The restaurant and hotel sector is suffering from a severe shortage of specialized workers and delivery drivers, as the door to bringing in new labor from abroad remains shut for most of the services sectors. A government report revealed a drop in the number of workers in lodging and food services between March 2020 and March 2021 – a total of 8,641 workers.

Head of the Restaurants Union Fahad Al-Arbash told Al-Qabas Arabic daily that restaurant owners are unable to operate as the ban on bringing in labor from abroad remains in place, along with a dearth of experienced specialized workers such as chefs, bakers and confectioners, and this has negatively affected work.

Jaber Al-Shareef, owner of a delivery company, said the ban on bringing in labor from abroad, coupled with a shortage of manpower locally, has contributed to an increase in wages and transfers between companies due to competition and monetary incentives./KT

Kuwait Minister of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy and Minister of Social Affairs and Community Development Dr. Mashaan Al-Otaibi affirmed that Kuwait attaches utmost importance to water security by developing plans and strategic General

This came in the Fifth Arab Water Forum Tuesday, held in Dubai, and organized by the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, with the support of the League of Arab States, and in cooperation with national, regional and international partners. In a statement to KUNA, Al-Otaibi said that the vision of (New Kuwait 2035) aims to ensure the sustainability and continuity of access to water within the framework of the integrated strategy for managing water resources, which is based on the promotion and rationalization of consumption and the use of the latest technologies and innovative solutions. This forum represents an opportunity to exchange views and experiences among Arab countries to preserve natural resources, especially water, Al-Otaibi added. He also noted that the forum discussed achieving water, food and energy security and climate change./Kuna

The Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) added a new section to its website which classifies job titles according to the academic qualifications job holders are required to have. And while the new system only specifies the academic level a job holder must have to be hired for any given job, Al-Qabas Arabic daily reported yesterday quoting informed sources that under the new qualification system, work permits can only be issued or renewed as long as the holder provides proof of academic qualification that matches the job title they are assuming.

The new service available on PAM’s website allows employers to search according to the job title, job number in accordance with the GCC directory, and academic qualifications, Aseel Al-Mazyad, Official Spokesperson and PR and Media Director at PAM, said yesterday. Users should follow these steps: Enter the website: www.manpower.gov.kw; select ‘information’; select ‘jobs and qualification’. “By adding this service, PAM aims to simplify the search for those in charge to get the expected results in the shortest time possible,” Mazyad added. The service is only available in Arabic for the time being, however.

Meanwhile, Al-Qabas also reported yesterday that PAM has decided to allow the transfer of workers from six sectors – industry, farming, shepherding, fishing, co-ops and free trade zones – to other jobs in the private sector. PAM has made things easier for business owners and employees amid the coronavirus pandemic, especially during the suspension of air travel, as it issued several decisions allowing the transfer of workers from sectors that were previously banned, Mazyad said. The ban had been lifted on March 3 to allow local firms to hire labor from inside Kuwait while outside recruitment remains closed. The ban was then reinstated on July 15, before being lifted against yesterday.

Workers’ exodus
In other news, a report emerged yesterday suggesting that investors are leaving Kuwait in search of other opportunities in the Gulf, particularly after the decision not to renew work permits of residents who reach the age of 60. Meanwhile, the Al-Jarida daily report quotes statistics from the Public Authority for Civil Information which indicate that more than 42,000 foreign workers have left the private sector during the first half of this year. Sources quoted in the report said this is a logical result that proves that the country is moving ahead with making Kuwait a repulsive environment for those with rare specialties, qualified workers and professionals.

While the stats revealed that 42,334 residents left Kuwait, the newspaper reports that neighboring Gulf countries and others attracted some of them, particularly doctors and those with rare specialties who can contribute to their development. The sources warned against the continuation of such moves that may empty Kuwait of qualified labor and shake the stability of those remaining, especially as they see large numbers of their colleagues head to other countries where they feel they have job security. The sources called for putting an end to the labor exodus due to the danger it poses to the private sector and the entire national economy./KT

Turkey will never abandon Rohingya Muslims to their fate, the country’s foreign minister said late Wednesday. 

Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a tweet that he was honored to co-host an online international high-level event regarding the status of Rohingya in Bangladesh.

“We must continue to work for the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya” to their homeland, he said. "We will never leave Rohingya Muslims to their fate."

Since August 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed, more than 34,000 thrown into fires, over 114,000 beaten and at least 18,000 Rohingya women and girls raped, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

The Myanmar army’s brutal crackdown in Rakhine state forced more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, to flee to Bangladesh, pushing the persecuted community’s number in Bangladesh above 1.1 million, according to Amnesty International./agencies

The Ugandan government and NGOs expressed concern Wednesday about growing cases of child sexual exploitation and trafficking.

Child trafficking is mostly common in the impoverished northern Karamoja region with a staggering 400 - 900 children trafficked in the last three months, with 90% being girls.

Findings also show that most girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation, mostly in Kampala with an estimated 700 and 1,200 annually.

“Child sexual exploitation, child trafficking and unsafe migration are on the rise in the county. There is a need for the government’s intervention,” said James Yesiga, country manager of the Terre Des Homes Netherlands Uganda chapter, the leading organization fighting child abuse.

Yesiga also noted that out of 42.7 million Ugandans, 55% are children younger than 18, of which a few attend school beyond primary education.

Karamoja Affairs Minister Esther Anyakunyi, in response, said that the “government has started to enforce the early childhood education programs to help young ones to start education so that they do not become a burden to their parents. I also urge people to avoid proving support to street children. If people stop helping them while on streets they will go off the roads.”

Ministry of Gender and Child Affairs spokesman Frank Mugabi said: “We have reduced child trafficking through adoption where foreigners used to come and adopt children fraudulently.”

He said the government is also sensitizing people in Karamoja from where children are mostly trafficked and brought to Uganda to be sold or used by adults to beg and sex work.

“As far as child sex abuse is concerned, the president recently assented to a new child policy which have tough penalties for those caught in the act,” he said./aa

Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar assigned his forces' chief-of-staff to take his military post to prepare himself for running for the elections scheduled for Dec. 24, Libyan local media said on Wednesday.

The local news channel 218TV said Haftar assigned Abdel Razzaq al-Nadhouri to replace his post for only three months effective from Sept. 23 to Dec. 24.

No independent sources have yet confirmed the reports for Haftar's resignation.

On Sept. 8, the Libyan House of Representatives handed the Libyan new elections law to the UN special envoy to Libya which includes 77 articles that clarify the duties of the president along with the conditions and measures for voting or being a candidate.

The Tobruk-based parliament, headed by Aguila Saleh, made a no-confidence vote on Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh's government formed after UN-mediated talks between the Libyan rival parties in February.

The Libyan government and the High Council of State considered the Tobruk-based vote invalid as it contradicts the country’s political process mediated by the UN./agencies