A member of the Federal National Council, Adnan Hamad Al-Hammadi, said that he will address a parliamentary question to the Minister of Community Development, Hessa bint Issa Buhamid, during the parliament session scheduled for this morning, about “exceptional social assistance for the unemployed”, explaining that he would propose, through the question, to activate the article No. 7 of Federal Law No. 2 of 2001 on Social Security, which allows an exceptional unemployment grant to be given to unemployed people for reasons beyond their control and without income sources, and will inquire about the reasons for not implementing parliamentary recommendations that were issued by the Federal National Council in 2012, regarding the addition of The job seeker's case is among the cases that deserve social assistance.
In detail, this morning, the Federal National Council holds its tenth session of the first regular session of the seventeenth legislative session, headed by Speaker of the Council, Saqr Ghobash, and the participation of a number of ministers and government representatives, devoted to discussing a federal draft law establishing the International Center of Excellence in combating extremism and violent extremism .
The session, which is held "remotely" via closed-circuit television, will address 12 parliamentary questions to government representatives related to important and priority sectors in promoting the development process and developing the services provided, such as education, Emiratization, higher education, social development, and mourning leave.
Among the most prominent questions in today's session is a question directed by Council member, Adnan Hamad Al Hammadi, to the Minister of Community Development, Hessa bint Issa Buhamid, on “exceptional social assistance for the unemployed”, through which the council member - the question question - reviews the role of the ministry and the most important The initiatives that have been implemented in this regard.
Al-Hammadi told «Emirates Today» that he seeks, through the question, to identify the reasons for not activating a legal text in Federal Law No. 2 of 2001 on social security, that allows citizens who are unemployed to be granted exceptional social assistance until they obtain employment opportunities, explaining that the article No. 7 of the law states: “It is permissible to disburse exceptional social assistance for those who have no work due to a reason outside of his control and who does not have a source of income, and the period of disbursement of assistance shall be six months. During the period specified in the previous paragraph, with the assistance of the competent authority, and if he refuses to join the work for which he was provided, his right to the assistance prescribed for him shall be forfeited.
Al-Hammadi stated that the question pertains to a broad societal segment of citizens, especially the young graduate class, especially in light of the high rates of the unemployed among them, noting that this assistance is not a unique or new requirement, as it is approved, and it is applied in the majority of European countries.
He said that the federal law issued in 2001 included in its articles provisions that allow to help unemployed citizens of young people, but that these articles are not activated in the required form, for several reasons, the most important of which is the lack of awareness of the beneficiaries about them, and the low awareness and awareness roles of these articles in helping that group until Obtaining a job opportunity, in addition to other reasons related to the frequent transfer of the file of unemployed workers, between a number of agencies and ministries.
Al-Hammadi added, “We should look at the reasons that hinder the implementation of a legal text that reduces the burdens on the citizens’ families, and helps young people to spend the minimum basic needs until they get jobs, especially since most of them are not responsible for not obtaining jobs. ”
A member of the Federal National Council indicated that he would also address the question to the questionnaire of the reasons for not implementing parliamentary recommendations that were issued by the Federal National Council in 2012, regarding adding the case of a job seeker from among the cases that deserve the necessity of social assistance, and not as an exceptional case, and setting the rules for disbursing aid In partnership with the bodies and institutions concerned with the employment of citizens, in addition to linking social assistance with economic changes and social developments in the country, and finally creating a database and information common between the ministry and the authorities concerned with employing and appointing job seekers in the state, so that it includes all the information, statistics, studies and annual reports issued by the authorities Governmental and relevant authorities in the state.
Aid for "exceptional cases"
A parliamentary report issued in mid-May 2012 stated that most of the Gulf states consider the category of job seekers to be among the groups that receive social assistance, while the state government did not include this category among the cases that deserve the necessity of social assistance, but rather considered them as exceptional cases, despite the fact that unemployment Compulsory education is among the cases that society must be covered under its auspices in accordance with Article 16 of the Constitution.
According to the report, government representatives emphasized that after the promulgation of Law No. 2 of 2001, on social security, the National Human Resources Development and Employment Authority (Tanmia) was established, and its task at that time was to search for jobs for job seekers, and this body was separated from the Ministry of Social Affairs (Tanmia) Society now), and consequently the law was amended to transfer the dependency of this file to another federal entity "at the time".
A member of the «National» inquires about the lack of implementation of parliamentary recommendations to add the job seeker among those deserving of social assistance.