Saudis Delay Measure Affecting Foreign Workers
KAREEM FAHIM and MAYY EL SHEIKH
NYTimes.com
Vue de Riyad, ces décisions prennent un relief différent. Depuis le début de ces mesures, de nombreuses institutions ne peuvent plus fonctionner : ainsi, la presse signale que des écoles ont dû fermer, les professeurs (pour la plupart étrangers) ayant peur d’être raflés et déportés. Le royaume vient de suspendre les mesures pour trois mois, mais après ?
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/world/middleeast/port-lacks-workers-after-saudi-immigration-crackdown.html?ref=world
Almost two weeks after Saudi Arabia started deporting thousands of foreign workers from Yemen and other countries in a crackdown that drew protests from local business owners and foreign diplomats, Saudi officials on Saturday reversed course and announced a three-month grace period for the workers, according to the official Saudi news agency.
In late March, Saudi officials announced changes to the country’s employment code, promising tough measures, including deportation, for foreigners found to be violating the work-visa sponsorship system. The statement on Saturday said the workers had three months to conform with the new regulations.
It was not immediately clear whether workers who had already been deported — including up to 20,000 from Yemen, according to officials there — would be allowed to return.
Saudi officials have framed the crackdown as part of a continuing effort to lower the country’s staggering youth unemployment rate, in part by shifting the balance in hiring practices for private-sector jobs, which are overwhelmingly occupied by the kingdom’s 10 million foreign workers. In November, the government started penalizing private companies that hire more foreigners than Saudi citizens as part of a plan to create six million new jobs for Saudis by 2030.
The policy also reflects fears of political instability among the monarchies of the Persian Gulf region, where the authorities have combined inducements with repression to contain the discontent among young people that helped propel the Arab uprisings more than two years ago.