Saudi Arabia to adopt national anti-discrimination policy soon

Saudi Arabia to adopt national anti-discrimination policy soon

JEDDAH — The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development is working on a national anti-discrimination policy that will be adopted in the near future, Saudi Gazette has learned from well-informed sources.According to the sources, the policy, which bans all forms of discrimination, is the first of its kind in the Kingdom. “The policy is in the final phases of its formulation and it will be accorded approval shortly,” the sources said.The relevant authorities in the Kingdom recently worked out a mechanism for reporting and inspection pertaining to practices of discrimination at workplaces. The ministry also strives to prevent gender discrimination in the payment of monthly salaries or advertisements for jobs.The ministry had recently stressed that citizens have equal rights to work without any discrimination on the basis of gender or any other forms of discrimination, whether at the workplace or when hiring or advertising. The ministry's unequivocal clarification came in a response to a query via the ministry's Customer Care account on Twitter after a company published an advertisement for men-only jobs.“The advertisement was in contravention of Article 3 of the Labor Law,” the ministry said while emphasizing that work is the right of every citizen and that no