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The Gulf Arab states and labour-exporting Asian countries have agreed to join forces against the exploitation of Asian workers. Labour ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and their counterparts from Asia will propose an action plan to protect the welfare of workers, according to their Abu Dhabi Declaration.
The ministers have recommended drawing up within three months of a plan aimed at “preventing illegal recruitment practices” both in the country of origin and in host countries. The declaration also called for “promoting welfare and protection measures for contractual workers ... and preventing their exploitation at origin and destination.”
The Ministerial Consultation on Overseas Employment and Contractual Labour for Countries of Origin and Destination in Asia (Abu Dhabi Labour Dialogue) was the first of its kind to be held in a major labour-receiving country. The meeting in the UAE capital builds on the Asian Regional Consultative Process on Overseas Employment and Contractual Labor, known as the Colombo Process. Set up in 2003, the Colombo Process includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam and the aim is to initiate dialogue on overseas labor. The six GCC states, with a total population of 35 million people, are heavily dependent on foreign laborers, mostly from Asian countries.
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