Press release
Cairo:8/3/2003

EOHR defends Egyptian workers’ rights in gulf

countries at the United Nations

The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) is currently attending the 62^nd session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD Committee) in Geneva. During the session, EOHR and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) presented a report to the CERD Committee on the status of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is currently before the CERD Committee to discuss its periodical reports due under the convention against racial discrimination.

The report presented by FIDH and EOHR analyzes violations against foreign workers in Saudi Arabia. These violations include the absence of labor protections, discrimination, restrictions on freedom of movement, the inability to establish associations, as well as the failure to provide equal protection before law. The report highlights the failures of the sponsorship system to protect foreign workers’ rights in Saudi Arabia. It recommends the abolition of the sponsorship system, the cessation of all forms of violations that workers face, as well as the necessity for Saudi Arabia to provide information on the status of these workers.

The report encouraged the CERD Committee to seek clarification from the Saudi Arabian about the status of foreign workers. Whilst the reaction from the Saudi delegation was reasonably positive, there are still a lot of improvements which shall take place.

In this context, EOHR urges the Saudi Arabian government to take immediate steps towards eliminating all forms of discrimination against foreign workers, to reform the sponsorship system and to compensate those individuals whose rights have been violated.