Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will soon adopt a national anti-discrimination policy that prohibits all forms of discrimination, local media reported.
The ministry of human resources and social development is working on the first-of-its-kind policy that will be formally adopted in the near future. “The policy is in the final phases of its formulation and it will be accorded approval shortly,” the sources said.
Authorities recently developed a mechanism for reporting workplace discrimination. The policy will include gender discrimination laws regarding pay and advertising for jobs.
The ministry emphasized that citizens have equal rights to work without any discrimination on the basis of gender or any other form of discrimination, whether in the workplace or in employment or advertising.
According to the Saudi Gazette, the ministry’s unequivocal clarification came in response to a question from the ministry’s customer care Twitter account after a company published an advertisement for men-only jobs.
The ministry said “the advertisement violates article three of the labor law,” emphasizing that work is the right of every citizen and that no one has the right to engage in any activity that violates the labor law without fulfilling the conditions set out in it.
Through an anti-discrimination policy, the ministry seeks to regulate the job market by issuing and updating work environment regulations in both the public and private sectors.