Daily News

View All News

Qatar – Labour laws reformed but controversial sponsorship system remains in place

22 July 2014

Qatar's government has announced labour market reforms designed to improve the treatment of foreign workers, although some of its most controversial practices remain in place, reports ibitimes.co.uk.

New measures include restrictions on working outdoors in the hottest hours during the summer and a rule that companies must open bank accounts for workers and pay wages electronically.

Companies will also face sanctions if they do not transfer wages to employees within seven days of the due date. The government failed to specify the type of penalty that companies would face for breaching the law.

However, plans to replace the controversial ‘kafala’ sponsorship system, which ties workers to a single employer, remain under government consideration.

Dr Abdullah Saleh al-Khulaifi, Minister for Labour, commented: "We know there is much more to do, but we are making definite progress.”

As the country’s capital city Doha prepares to host the 2022 football World Cup, its labour laws have come under increased scrutiny and faced criticism from international human rights groups.

The ratio of migrant workers to Qatar’s native population is the highest in the world. The country’s overall population soared by +9% in the first quarter of 2014 alone, as migrant labourers arrived to work on World Cup-related infrastructure projects.

An investigation published in September 2013, carried out by The Guardian, revealed that dozens of Nepalese construction workers had died amid allegations of mistreatment by companies. The allegations were refuted by Nepal and Qatar but Doha has since pledged to improve labour conditions for migrant workers.

A statement from Qatar's Ministry of Labour said the government would launch an electronic complaint system and would build accommodation for 150,000 migrant workers, while increasing the number of safety inspections at workplaces.

Yet the new announcements fail to address Qatar's most contentious labour laws and have been greeted by human rights groups as a missed opportunity.

The kafala system remains unchanged.

Moreover, the system of "exit permits" also remains in place, meaning foreign workers find it extremely difficult to leave the country independently.

James Lynch, a migrant workers expert at Amnesty International, said: "There are tentative signs of efforts to improve enforcement of worker protections ‒ the number of labour inspectors continues to creep up and better language facilities have been installed in Ministry of Labour complaints offices, for example. But some of the measures announced are in fact just planned pieces of legislation which have not yet taken force, let alone had an effect on the ground.”

"Ultimately only fundamental reform will begin to address the abuse of workers. As a first step we are urging Qatar's government to be bolder and to commit to a complete cancellation of the exit permit requirement, a blatant human rights violation which they could and should get rid of immediately," he said.