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Vietnamese labors not affected by Dubai hostel closures: ministry
Vietnamese workers in Dubai will not be affected by a possible decision by local authorities to close down some 400 hostels housing foreign guest workers, the Ministry of Labors, War Invalids and Social Affairs said.
The move by one of the seven emirates and largest city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is aimed at improving hygiene and fire prevention capacity at hostels that fail to meet safety standards, according to the ministry’s Department of Overseas Labor (DOLAB).
The hostels that face the risk closure are slums rented by workers themselves and camps established by employers at construction sites for workers, DOLAB said.
But most Vietnamese workers in Dubai as well as the rest of the UAE live in permanent houses built or rented by companies and factories, it said.
The houses meet local health and fire safety standards and have eight to 10 people sharing a 15-squaremeter room with sufficient facilities, it said.
Workers who came to Dubai on their own or under personal contracts got house rent allowances from their employers, it added.
International rights organizations have long criticized appalling conditions and safety standards for foreign laborers who work in the oil-rich Gulf, AP reported recently.
The fatal fire in Dubai that killed 11 guest workers in a 30-room building crammed with 1,000 people on August 26 has urged authorities to close camps failing safety standards. Only 60 percent of the 1,033 permanent and temporary living quarters meet the standards, UAE-based newspaper The National quoted Redha Salman, the Dubai Municipality’s public health director, as saying last month.
“Those [that] are not serious violators and only failed a few checkpoints were given six months to one year [to put things right],” he said.
Around 5,000 Vietnamese laborers work in UAE, including 3,000 in Dubai, DOLAB reported last year.
Vietnam has sent nearly 58,000 workers to foreign countries this year, DOLAB deputy head Dao Cong Hai recently told Viet Nam News. Of this, 2,072 workers have gone to the UAE.
Thanhnien
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