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Qatar Labour Reforms Ahead of the FIFA 2022 World Cup

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2022

Mustafa Qadri Open the ORCID record for Mustafa Qadri [Opens in a new window]
Mustafa Qadri*
Affiliation:
Chief Executive Officer, Equidem, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: mqadri@equidem.org
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Extract

In response to a forced labour review by the International Labour Organization (ILO) that threatened to turn into a formal international inquiry,1 the government of Qatar commenced an ambitious programme of labour reforms aimed largely at addressing concerns about its treatment of migrant workers. About 2.4 million men and women,2 an estimated 88.4 per cent of the small Gulf nation’s population,3 are migrant workers. It has the second largest known gas reserves in the world, and its airbases are home to the largest United States military installation in the Middle East.4 Yet, the small Gulf emirate garnered little international scrutiny until it was awarded in 2010 the right to host the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) men’s Football World Cup tournament in 2022.

Keywords

construction workersFIFA 2022 World Cuphuman rightsmigrant workersQatar
Type
Developments in the Field
Information
Business and Human Rights Journal , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , June 2022 , pp. 319 - 325
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

1 Robert Boother, ‘UN gives Qatar a year to end forced labour of migrant workers’, The Guardian (24 March 2016), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/24/un-gives-qatar-year-end-forced-labour-migrant-workers (accessed 2 October 2021).

2 Ibid.

3 Central Intelligence Agency, ‘The World Factbook: Qatar’, https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/qatar (accessed 2 October 2021).

4 Adam Taylor, ‘As Trump tries to end “endless wars”, America’s biggest Mideast base is getting bigger’, Washington Post (21 August 2019), https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/as-trump-tries-to-end-endless-wars-americas-biggest-mideast-base-is-getting-bigger/2019/08/20/47ac5854-bab4-11e9-8e83-4e6687e99814_story.html (accessed 1 October 2021).

5 International Labour Organization, ‘Qatar’s new minimum wage enters into force’ (19 March 2021), https://www.ilo.org/beirut/projects/qatar-office/WCMS_775981/lang--en/index.htm (accessed 2 October 2021).

6 Ibid.

7 Noah, ‘Minimum wage, maximum adjustment’, Migrant-Rights.org (25 October 2020), https://www.migrant-rights.org/2020/10/minimum-wage-maximum-adjustment/ (accessed 1 October 2021).

8 International Labour Organization, Assessment of the Wage Protection System in Qatar (Doha: ILO, 2019), https://www.ilo.org/beirut/projects/qatar-office/WCMS_726174/lang--en/index.htm (accessed 2 October 2021).

9 International Labour Organization, ‘Ensuring fair recruitment through the Qatar Visa Center in Sri Lanka’ (18 June 2019), https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/labour-migration/news-statements/WCMS_712508/lang--en/index.htm (accessed 1 October 2021)

10 ‘Project visas misused to bypass QVC regulations’, Migrant-Rights.org (16 August 2021), https://www.migrant-rights.org/2021/08/project-visas-misused-to-bypass-qvc-regulations/ (accessed 1 October 2021).

11 FairSquare Projects, Nepal to Kuwait and Qatar: Fair Recruitment in Review, Five Corridors Project (July 2021), https://fivecorridorsproject.org/uploads/C2_3_Nepal_Kuwait_Qatar-report.pdf (accessed 1 October 2021).

12 International Labour Organization, ‘End of exit permits for most migrant workers in Qatar welcomed’ (4 September 2018), https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_638754/lang--en/index.htm (accessed 2 October 2021).

13 International Labour Organization, ‘Exit permits consigned to history for almost all migrant workers in Qatar’ (16 January 2020), https://www.ilo.org/beirut/projects/qatar-office/WCMS_734411/lang--en/index.htm (accessed 2 October 2021).

14 ‘Shura Council makes recommendations on change of employer and expat worker’s exit’, The Peninsula Qatar (22 February 2021), https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/22/02/2021/Shura-Council-makes-recommendations-on-change-of-employer-and-expat-worker%E2%80%99s-exit (accessed 2 October 2021).

15 Romanos May, ‘Is Qatar planning a U-turn on reforms?’, Amnesty International (4 March 2021), https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/03/is-qatar-planning-a-uturn-on-reforms/ (accessed 2 October 2021).

16 Qatar Ministry of Interior, ‘Minister of Interior Decree No. 51 of 2020 Amending Some Provisions of the Executive Regulations of Law No. 21 of 2015 Regulating the Entry, Exit and Residence of Expatriates, Issued by Minister of Interior Decree No. 25 of 2019’ (19 August 2020), https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---arabstates/---ro-beirut/documents/legaldocument/wcms_755963.pdf (accessed 1 October 2021).

17 International Labour Organization, ‘Changing employers in Qatar’, https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---arabstates/---ro-beirut/documents/publication/wcms_754402.pdf (accessed 2 October 2021).

18 International Labour Organization, ‘What is the new procedure to change jobs in Qatar?’, https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---arabstates/---ro-beirut/documents/publication/wcms_754403.pdf (accessed 2 October 2021).

19 International Labour Organization, ‘Changing employers in Qatar’, https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---arabstates/---ro-beirut/documents/publication/wcms_754402.pdf (accessed 2 October 2021).

20 See note 14.

21 FairSquare Projects, note 11.

22 Qatar Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, ‘Decision of the Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs No. 17 for the year 2021 specifying measures to protect workers from heat stress’, (21 October 2020), https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---arabstates/---ro-beirut/documents/legaldocument/wcms_794551.pdf (accessed 2 October 2021).

23 Ibid.

24 International Labour Organization, ‘New legislation in Qatar provides greater protection to workers from heat stress’ (27 May 2021), https://www.ilo.org/beirut/projects/qatar-office/WCMS_794475/lang--en/index.htm (accessed 2 October 2021).

25 Amnesty International, Qatar: ‘In the Prime of their Lives’: Qatar’s Failure to Investigate, Remedy and Prevent Migrant Workers’ Deaths, MDE 22/4614/2021 (26 August 2021), https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde22/4614/2021/en/ (accessed 1 October 2021).

26 Pete Pattinson et al, ‘Revealed: 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since World Cup awarded’, The Guardian (23 February 2021), https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/23/revealed-migrant-worker-deaths-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022 (accessed 1 October 2021).

27 Qatar Government Communication Office, ‘Labour Reform’, https://www.gco.gov.qa/en/focus/labour-reform/ (accessed 2 October 2021).

28 Human Rights Watch, ‘Domestic Workers’ Rights in Qatar Human Rights Watch Commentary on Qatar’s Laws and Regulations on Domestic Workers’ (26 June 2018), https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/26/domestic-workers-rights-qatar (accessed 2 October 2021).

29 ‘Qatar’s Domestic Worker Law: a step in the right direction, but weakened by exclusions’, Migrant-Rights.org (25 August 2017), https://www.migrant-rights.org/2017/08/qatars-dw-law-a-step-in-the-right-direction-but-weakened-by-exclusions/ (accessed 1 October 2021).

30 Amnesty International, Why do you want to Rest? Ongoing Abuse of Domestic Workers in Qatar (20 October 2020), https://www.migrant-rights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/WEB-VERSION-MDE-22.3175.2020-Embargoed-_-Why-do-you-want-to-sleep-Ongoing-abuse-of-domestic-workers-in-Qatar.pdf (accessed 1 October 2021).

31 Qatar Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, ‘Joint Committees in accordance with the provisions of the Labour Code No. 14 of 2004, and Ministerial Decision No. 21 of 2019 which regulates the conditions and procedures for the election of workers’ representatives to joint committees’, Labour Relations Department (2019), https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/MONOGRAPH/108501/134135/F1786604991/QAT108501%20Eng.pdf (accessed 1 October 2021).

32 Ibid.

33 International Labour Organization, ‘Decree paves way for election of worker representatives in enterprises’ (1 May 2019), https://www.ilo.org/beirut/projects/qatar-office/WCMS_696935/lang--en/index.htm (accessed 1 October 2021).

34 Noha Aboueldahab, ‘Social protection, not just legal protection: migrant labourers in the Gulf’, Brookings (23 August 2021), https://www.brookings.edu/research/social-protection-not-just-legal-protection-migrant-laborers-in-the-gulf/#footnote-20 (accessed 1 October 2021).

35 Amnesty International, Qatar: All Work, No Pay: The Struggle of Qatar’s Migrant Workers for Justice (18 September 2019), https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde22/0793/2019/en/ (accessed 2 October 2021).

36 Ibid.

37 Ibid.

38 International Labour Organization, Recommendations on the Establishment of the Workers’ Support and Insurance Fund in Qatar: Drawing from International Experience (June 2019), https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---arabstates/---ro-beirut/documents/publication/wcms_726175.pdf (accessed 2 October 2021).

39 Human Rights Watch, How Can We Work Without Wages? (24 August 2020), https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/08/24/how-can-we-work-without-wages/salary-abuses-facing-migrant-workers-ahead-qatars (accessed 2 October 2021).

40 Human Rights Watch, ‘Qatar: Significant Labor and Kafala Reforms: Enforcement Needed, Other Provisions in Effect Still Carry Risk of Abuse’ (24 September 2020), https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/24/qatar-significant-labor-and-kafala-reforms (accessed 8 February 2022).

41 International Labour Organization, ‘Minimum wages and wage protection in the Arab States: ensuring a just system for national and migrant workers’ (May 2018), https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---arabstates/---ro-beirut/documents/publication/wcms_660002.pdf (accessed 8 February 2022).

42 Sanaullah Ataullah, ‘System of reporting absconding workers to be abolished soon’, The Peninsula Qatar (20 October 2020), https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/20/10/2020/System-of-reporting-absconding-workers-to-be-abolished-soon (accessed 21 October 2021).

43 Equidem, The Cost of Contagion: The Human Rights Impacts of COVID-19 on Migrant Workers in the Gulf, https://www.equidem.org/reports/the-cost-of-contagion (accessed 1 October 2021).