Nitaqat paying off: Fakieh

June 13, 2013

Geneva, Jun 13: Labor Minister Adel Fakieh said here on Wednesday that initiatives and programs launched recently in the Kingdom have given distinctive results in providing suitable job opportunities to Saudis and increasing women’s participation in the labor market.

Addressing an International Labor Conference, he said that the Nitaqat program for Saudization of jobs launched in June 2011 has helped increase the percentage of Saudi workers in the private sector from 10 to over 13.

At the end of 2012, 615,000 male and female Saudi nationals were employed in the private sector.

He said the percentage of Saudi women who were employed in full-time jobs in the private sector witnessed an unprecedented increase.

The number of Saudi women employed for the first time in the private sector in 2012 reached 180,000, three times more than the employment figure before Nitaqat.

He told the gathering that the employment of differently abled people received special attention in the Nitaqat program. Since the launching of Nitaqat in 2011 until the end of 2012, 17,000 physically challenged people were employed.

He said the Ministry of Labor also launched the system to protect salaries in the private sector. Firms have been asked to pay salaries through banks. He said the ministry has started implementing this system in phases as of June 2013.

Fakieh said the Labor Ministry has completed the procedures for inspections to increase efficiency and transparency.

It has also completed preparing the occupational health and safety file in the Kingdom.

Fakieh said that necessary procedures have been approved to join ILO’s convention on minimum age for employment.

The convention adopted in 1973 by the International Labor Organization (ILO) requires ratifying states to pursue a national policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labor and to raise progressively the minimum age for admission to employment or work.

Countries are free to specify a minimum age for labor, with a minimum of 15 years.

A declaration of 14 years is also possible when for a specified period of time. Laws may also permit light work for children aged 13–15 (not harming their health or school work).

The minimum age of 18 years is specified for work which “is likely to jeopardize the health, safety or morals of young persons.

In its latest report released on Tuesday in Geneva, ILO called for an end to child labor in domestic work and adequate protection of young workers against abusive working conditions.

Statistics of the new ILO report showed that an estimated 15.5 million children (i.e. below the age of 18) were involved in paid or unpaid domestic work in the households of a third party or employer other than their own families, carrying out tasks such as cleaning, cooking and looking after other children, the sick and the elderly.

Of these children, about 10.5 million were in child labor either because they were below the legal minimum working age or were working in hazardous or even slave-like conditions, among whom 6.5 million were aged between 5 and 14 years old, and more than 71 percent were girls, the report noted.

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Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

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