Establishment of a Permanent Committee for Refugee Affairs to provide optimal services and assistance to all refugees
A spokesperson for Tunisia's interior ministry said migrants were transferred to reception centres and provided with health and psychological care, with the help of the Tunisian Red Crescent. Tunisia and Libya announced on Thursday an agreement to share responsibility for providing shelter for hundreds of migrants stranded at their border. The migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan African countries, had been driven to the desert area of Ras Jedir by Tunisian authorities and left there to fend for themselves, according to witnesses, rights groups and UN agencies. Aid groups said hundreds of migrants from sub-Saharan African countries remain stranded there in life-threatening conditions.
The new decision removes restrictions on the provision of health insurance to expatriates over 60 of the listed companies.
The law stipulates that the employer is committed to pay for the health insurance installments to provide his workers coverage for the necessary basic health care services. The employer is also committed to supply his employees with a health insurance card after issuing the insurance document and present proof of this when issuing or renewing the residency permits. Further, the employer is committed to pay for any costs of health care services offered to the beneficiaries under him on account of his failure to maintain a valid health insurance for them.
The Tunisian ministry for human rights, relations with constitutional bodies and civil society launched an online platform (www.aide-covid19.tn) for foreigners stranded in Tunisia due to the coronavirus emergency, specifically students, migrants, and asylum seekers. The platform is to help individuals seek assistance, get connected to different organizations, and to receive donations and other aid from individuals or legal entities.
The ministerial decision states that land and real estate that non-Omanis are prohibited from owning in the Sultanate must be specified as follows: Agricultural lands in all provinces; or Other lands and real estate in the governorates, states and mountains specified in Article 1 of the law, as well as in all islands in the Sultanate, and in the surroundings of palaces, headquarters of security and military authorities specified under the text of Article 2, and in the heritage and old neighborhoods specified by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture; this does not include land and real estate located in finished tourist housing compounds.
Changes were made to Oman’s Law on the Control of Communicable Diseases as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The additions reiterated the need for all residents infected with a communicable disease to receive medical care and treatment in government treatment facilities. Failure to do so by any foreigners or foreigners caught in activities that risk the spread of listed communicable diseases are subject to possible deportation from the country. Additional articles established the requirement for individuals entering the country who are infected or suspected of being infected to notify this information to authorities and also the right of the Ministry of Health to subject individuals to necessary procedures to combat communicable diseases such as quarantining the individual and his or her luggage.
Oman signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which states all peoples to certain rights.
Amnesty was granted through Royal Decree No. 10 to 901 prisoners, including migrants, for humanitarian reasons and in light of the COVID-19 situation. The Ministry of Interior undertook a comprehensive study to determine the prisoners who are eligible for amnesty following the provisions of the law and the principles of international human rights agreements. Consideration was given to female and young prisoners, the sick who need special care, and the extent of commitment to rehabilitation programmes. Foreigners will be deported to their home countries where they will serve the remaining period of their sentences.