Arab Labor Organization to tackle ripples of "Arab Spring"

Meetings of the 39th session of the Arab Labor Organization (ALO) are due to begin later on Sunday under chairmanship of Palestine and participation of 17 ministers and officials. Kuwait is taking part in the meetings, due to proceed for a week, with a delegation headed by Minister of Social Affairs and Labor (ret. Lieut. Gen.) Ahmad Al-Rujaib, Undersecretary Mohammad Al-Kanderi, Assistant Undersecretary for Labor Affairs Jamal Al-Dosari, Assistant Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Mansour Al-Mansour, Director of the Undersecretary Bureau Khaled Al-Abdul Rahim, Kuwaiti ambassador to Egypt Dr. Rashid Al-Hamad and a number of officials. Conferees are due to tackle repercussions of the "Arab Spring" events namely their effects on the labor sector, social care and protection programs in shadow of soaring unemployment in the Arab world, where the number of the jobless has reached as high as 19-20 million. They will ponder idea of forming a league for Arab economic and social councils to limit effects of the Arab upheavals on the workers, following suit of six Arab countries, namely Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon. Egypt and Oman had declared intention to establish such bodies. On sidelines of the congress, a round-table seminar will be organized. It will be addressed by the labor minister of Tunisia, one of the host countries of the "Arab Spring" events, and his counterpart of Saudi Arabia, an Arab state with high number of expatriate workers. Other figures will also address the gathering, namely personalities representing youth in Egypt and Yemen, as well as representatives of the International Labor Organization (ILO).