By IANS
Dubai : In a bid to check rampant exploitation of foreign workers in the country, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government is contemplating new measures to completely stop hiring workers through recruitment agencies.
“We’ll confine labour force recruitment to the UAE Ministry of Labour and the concerned ministries of the countries from where workers come. This will check exploitation of gullible workers who often fall victims to unscrupulous recruiting agents,” UAE’s Minister of Labour Ali bin Abdullah Al Kaabi said Sunday.
He also said that his ministry, in cooperation with the concerned ministries of other countries, would soon reach an agreement to streamline the process of hiring of workers, the Khaleej Times reported.
There are around 1.5 million Indians in the UAE, of whom 800,000 are in Dubai, 300,000 in Abu Dhabi and the rest spread across the other five emirates of Ajman, Sharjah, Fujairah, Ras-al Khaimah and Umm al-Quwain. Many of them work as contract labourers in the UAE’s booming construction industry.
In June, the UAE government had announced a three-month amnesty scheme for all foreign workers present illegally in the country to regularise their status according to the law or leave the country without penalty.