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Riyadh: The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) Ministerial Council has received two recommendations from the labour ministers' council concerning expatriate labour laws, informed sources at the GCC secretariat have revealed.
The first recommendation calls for setting a six-year limit to foreign labourers.
The second recommendation calls for forming a joint committee to specify certain professions that would be exempt from this time frame.
If the two recommendations are approved, GCC states will be given a grace period to arrange their own affairs and issue the required legislations implement such recommendations, the sources said.
Doctors, lawyers and consultants might be included in the list of professionals exempted from the rule.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Saudi Human Rights Commission Turki Khalid Al Sudairi affirmed that his organisation has adopted several initiatives to improve the status of expatriates in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Al Sudairi confirmed the adoption of these initiatives after he received a delegation from the US embassy in Riyadh.
Al Sudairi also expressed his hope that organisations that publish human rights reports about Saudi Arabia would change their negative stance towards the Kingdom and look towards the positive steps taken to address the issue of human rights.
All complaints about the treatment of labourers are taken to the relevant authorities in various ministries and follow ups are regularly exercised, Al Sudairi assured.
In fact, the Kingdom was the only country that cooperated fully with the delegation from Human Rights Watch, allowing them to meet with whoever they wanted, Al Sudairi added.
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