Reference has been made before the committee to I believe a 2010 change to the Jordanian labour law, which provided, I will concede, to some extent greater rights for migrant workers to join unions, but there continues to be substantial and discriminatory treatment against migrant workers, particularly in sort of free trade zones in Jordan, that prevent them from exercising fundamental rights, such as freedom association, which Mr. Vogt referred to. Clearly those issues need to be addressed.
I think one principle we can probably all agree on is that labour law, and indeed all law, should apply to everyone equally. The fact is that the large migrant workforce in Jordan is not treated equally. It is openly discriminated against. As Mr. Kernaghan said, they work virtually in almost indentured conditions for very long hours. They work enormous amounts of uncompensated overtime frequently for roughly 70ยข an hour. Those issues simply need to be addressed. Labour laws should apply to everyone equally, as I said earlier. In my view, that's the key issue that should be addressed.
The other issue I wanted to note, and I mentioned it in my opening remarks, is the systemic and pervasive gender discrimination that all of the evidence points to, particularly in the Jordanian garment sector. You heard Mr. Kernaghan testify about issues of sexual assault in workplaces. Those gender discrimination issues are again pervasive and appalling, and they need to be addressed by Jordanian law.