UAE and Uganda Sign a Memorandum of Understanding to Recruit Enterprises’ and Domestic Workers

The United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Uganda have concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), with the aim of strengthening their cooperation, in relation to the application of the best practices in the area of manpower.

The United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Uganda have concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), with the aim of strengthening their cooperation, in relation to the application of the best practices in the area of manpower.

A cooperation agreement on domestic labour was appended to the MOU, and was signed by His Excellency Nasser Bin Thani Al Hamli, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE), and Her Excellency Janat Balunzi, Uganda’s Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Affairs, in Uganda's capital Kampala, in the presence of Dr. Omar Al Nuaimi, Assistant Undersecretary for communications and international cooperation and a number of officials on both sides.

His Excellency Nasser Bin Thani Al Hamli stated that the signing of the MOU shows the determination of the both friendly countries to develop their partnership and cooperate to apply the best practices in the area of the management of the temporary employment cycle, regarding the Ugandan labour in the UAE. It also shows their keenness on exchanging information and studies concerning the labour matters, which contributes to maximizing the mutual development benefits for both countries.

His Excellency referred to the role of the MOU and the Agreement on Domestic Labour, in relation to regulating the operation of the recruitment agencies in both countries, in a manner that guarantees the application of transparent recruitment practices and that all parties concerned with recruitment and employment of the Ugandan labour in the UAE are to comply with the legislations in place in both countries.

His Excellency also affirmed the importance of the Agreement in terms of increasing and diversifying the options before the employers and households desiring to recruit and employ domestic labour; whether from Uganda or the other countries that signed MOUs with the UAE.

Under the recently signed Agreement, both parties agreed to recruit enterprises’ workers, according to a certain mechanism. Under that Agreement, the employer; located in the UAE, should provide a detailed job offer to the worker to be recruited from Uganda. Such job offer should include a comprehensive description of the rights and duties of each party as well as the terms and condition of employment. The concerned Ugandan government entity is to make sure the worker would sign the job offer after obtaining access to it and approving its content. The offer should be attached to the request of issuing a work permit submitted by the employer to MOHRE. The offer would be extracted from MOHRE’s database upon the worker’s arrival in the UAE, in order to be signed by both the employer and worker. Then, the offer would be officially registered at the Ministry as a lawful employment contract and it shall not be substituted nor shall any articles thereof be amended, unless it would be in the interest of the worker and with the approval of the Ministry.

In relation to recruiting the domestic labour, the bilateral cooperation Agreement provided for facilitating the procedures of admitting and recruiting the Ugandan domestic labour in the UAE as well as employing them according to the provision of the UAE’s Law on Domestic Labour that is in place and the Ugandan legislations and regulations governing the migration and recruitment of its labour overseas.

The agreement defined the measures of recruiting and employment of the Ugandan labour. For, the private, registered recruitment agencies; which are licensed in the UAE, shall be allowed solely to submit the applications of recruiting the Ugandan domestic labour; which are provided by the employers in the UAE. The private, registered recruitment agencies; that are licensed in Uganda, shall be allowed solely to submit the names and data of the Ugandan domestic labour nominated for the available and accredited vacancies.

Both parties agreed to cooperate on developing a list that sets each and all expenses related to recruiting and employing the Ugandan domestic labour, in addition to constantly updating such list. They also agreed to create and provide awareness-raising programs for the Ugandan domestic labour before leaving and upon arriving.

The agreement as well sets out the procedures of contracting and employment of the Ugandan domestic labour according to a standard employment contract that is based on the Law on Domestic Labour, where the recruitment agency shall send to the candidate worker the employer’s job offer that includes all the terms and conditions of employment. The two parties would cooperate to ensure that the worker agrees to the offer and signs the standard employment contract upon his arrival in the UAE, in addition to handing original copies to the worker and the employer.

The agreement stated that the termination and expiration of the contract shall be in accordance with the law and legislations on domestic labour and according to the conditions of the standard contract. Moreover, dispute settlement shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Domestic Labour and the conditions of the employment contract.