London, (Parliament Politics Magazine) – It has been interesting to read the dozen or so stories running about the tiny Gulf state of Qatar and their treatment of migrant workers, but are they right?
A review of recent reports from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and the International Labour Organisation, all suggest that the authorities in Qatar have made significant changes to both employment legislation and regulation.
HRW said in their most recent report that “…the Qatari government introduced reforms that partially addressed key abuses. The government set up a Workers’ Support and Insurance Fund that became operational in 2020 to ensure that workers are paid even when companies fail to do so. Over $320 million has been disbursed as of September 2022…”. They go on to say that Qatar deserves credit for attempting reforms, but they need to focus on ensuring implementation of all the reforms.
This is a view shared by Amnesty who said last month that: “Since 2018, Qatar has introduced a series of important labour reforms that aim to improve workers’ rights, but a lack of enforcement means that abuses persist. Improvements for workers on official FIFA sites, such as stadiums, were also introduced in 2014 via the Supreme Committee’s Worker Welfare Standards…”.
They go on to highlight that the new welfare laws have notbeen “universally respected” and were too limited in scope, before praising an initiative launched in 2018 to reimburse the recruitment fees of 48,000 workers who worked on the World Cup sites.
While the most recent report from the International Labour Organisation detailed myriad reform, the most important being the abolition of the most problematic elements of the kafala sponsorship system which tied workers to their employers and is widely used across the whole of the Gulf.
As a result of this reform the Ministry of Labour (MOL) approved around 350,000 applications by migrant workers to change jobs in the two years since its introduction.
Indeed Ruba Jaradat, the ILO’s Regional Director, commented: “We’ve been on a long journey with Qatar and the reforms and the cooperation with the international community are indeed significant for the region. We recognise that we are not yet at the finish line, and we will build on this solid foundation to address the gaps in implementation and ensure that all workers and employers can fully benefit from these major reforms.”
These reports match the findings a report from the sporting think-tank FIFA Ethics and Regulations Watch (FERW).
FERW concluded that the changes introduced by Qatar, starting in 2014, but rapidly advanced from 2018 were linked to the awarding of the FIFA World Cup and international pressure at a governmental and non-governmental level.
Interestingly the report, included the first independent survey of migrant workers in Qatar, and found improvements in pay, conditions, and general treatment of those employed in the emirate.
Asked, “Is the World Cup helping to improve human rights and labour conditions in Qatar?”, a staggering 95 per cent said yes and just one in 20 (five per cent) said no. Other questions about the results of the reforms, which were overseen in part by the International Labour Organisation, found, a majority saying their working environment and treatment had improved, while two small groups believed that conditions had enhanced for some (53 per cent), or the laws needed further enforcement (16 per cent) and 13 per cent, who said they had not felt any benefit from the improvements.
A clear majority were aware of the reforms, six in 10 (59 per cent), while four in 10 believed the legislation had not been implemented “effectively” and more needed to be done. This was confirmed by a second question showing nearly half of those polled believed their treatment had improved, just over 30 per cent saying it stayed the same and small minority believing it had got worse.
The FERW report, like those produced by HRW, Amnesty and he ILO acknowledges that further work is need especially around implementation and banning contractors who ignore the new rules from future contract.
FERW also contrasts the scale of the changes in Qatar with China, which hosted the Winter Olympics earlier this year. Far from improvements, the report’s author concludes that China has gone backwards in terms of human rights, with a security crackdown in Hong Kong, forced imprisonment and abuse of the Uighur community, and the treatment of Tibet and making threats towards Taiwan.
And sets out a series of recommendations, which the think-tank believe should be adopted by all sporting and cultural bodies which organise or award major events. They include:
ENDS