Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Kafala

Just think, once we change the definition of smoking we can move on to changing the definition of citizen. We won't even need any new laws, it's so easy!
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Qatar has the highest ratio of migrants to citizens in the world, with only 225,000 citizens in a population of 1.7 million. Yet the country has some of the most restrictive sponsorship laws in the Persian Gulf region, leaving migrant workers vulnerable...

...Qatar currently holds a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, winning an election to its second consecutive term in May 2010...

...A major barrier to redressing labor abuses is the kafala (sponsorship) system, which ties a migrant worker’s legal residence to his or her employer, or “sponsor.” Migrant workers cannot change jobs without their sponsoring employer’s consent, except in exceptional cases with permission from the Interior Ministry. If a worker leaves his or her sponsoring employer, even if fleeing abuse, the employer can report the worker as “absconding,” leading to detention and deportation. In order to leave Qatar, migrants must obtain an exit visa from their sponsor, and some said sponsors denied them these visas.

Source.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Model Society

How to Regulate E-Cigarettes and Other Electronic Smoking Devices
A Model Ordinance & flowchart




As the popularity of electronic cigarettes skyrockets, many communities have been increasingly concerned about the appeal of these products to minors, and about the potential risk to public health posed by e-cigarette vapor in places otherwise required to be smokefree, such as schools, hospitals, workplaces, etc.








Some communities already have local laws that regulate the sales and use of tobacco products. For those communities, regulating e-cigarettes can be as simple as amending the definitions of “tobacco products” and “smoking” to ensure that those terms are broad enough to cover the full range of emerging electronic devices and the ways in which they are used.



For communities that don’t have local laws regulating tobacco, we've developed a new model ordinance...

...For California communities that are interested in viewing model policy language relating to e-cigarettes, please contact us to request technical assistance

Source.

Emphasis mine. The quotes are theirs.

Baby steps, descending.
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I do not like thee, Doctor Fell,
The reason why - I cannot tell;
But this I know, and know full well,
I do not like thee, Doctor Fell
                                                 - Tom Brown