Decypha: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Development gave employers one month to return passports to their non-Saudi employees, reported Gulf Business.
The Labor Ministry said it will fine employers SAR 2,000 ($533) if they fail to return passports to their employees, reported Albawaba News.
Employers response to the ministry’s orders has been slow.
“What binds the employer and the employee is the contract. The passport is a personal document. No one has the right to take it because it becomes a crime of abuse and denial of rights,” said Society’s Secretary General, Khalid Al-Fakhiri.
Al-Fakhiri stressed that holding on to an employee passport is a form of human trafficking.
The National Society for Human Rights has previously called for the abolition of Saudi Arabia’s current sponsorship system in 2010.
