Shortly before the World Cup: situation worse again for many workers in Qatar?

Amnesty warns Bundestag

Created: 03/07/2022 17:26

By: Andreas Schmid

Qatari guest workers on a construction site.

The human rights situation for men from Bangladesh, Nepal or Pakistan remains tense.

© IMAGO/MIS (archive photo)

The human rights situation in Qatar remains precarious.

Amnesty International reports to the Bundestag that reform progress is "slacking off".

Berlin - For years, Amnesty International has spoken out against a boycott of the soccer World Cup in Qatar: Human rights could best be strengthened by looking at the situation on the ground instead of looking the other way.

However, with less than five months to go before the 2022 World Cup, the NGO is noticing a backsliding in human rights in Qatar.

On Monday (July 4th), the Qatar World Cup will occupy the sports committee of the Bundestag.

Backsliding on human rights in Qatar: "Culture of impunity"

Instead, Amnesty International reports on the human rights situation of migrant workers.

A statement for the committee reads: “Following initial progress in 2018-2020, Amnesty International has identified a slowdown in reform progress in 2021.

In some cases, the inaction of the Qatari government has even reversed the progress that had already been made.”

Specifically: “Despite legal provisions to the contrary, passports are confiscated from migrant workers, unpaid overtime is ordered, rest breaks and days are refused, heat protection measures are violated, wages are paid below the minimum wage, wages are paid late or not paid and illegal wage losses are used as punitive measures.” Amnesty International reports also of a “culture of impunity”.

Human rights violations by Qatari employers largely went unpunished.

Qatar World Cup: Only two percent of guest workers benefit from reforms

Positive are isolated improvements in the kafala system, which Amnesty had dubbed "modern slavery" in the past.

According to Amnesty, the reforms include the end of visa permits and the introduction of a general minimum wage in March 2021. However, the system has not been abolished.

"Contrary to this Qatari narrative, the inertia of this system, in which exploitation and abuse are structural, is evident in many places."

The problem, according to the human rights defenders: "These reforms, which are potentially transformative, have not yet contributed to improving the working and living conditions of migrant workers in Qatar in the long term and on a large scale." Amnesty emphasizes that not every worker become a victim of exploitation and abuse.

However, only those guest workers who are directly active on the World Cup construction sites would really benefit from reforms.

That is only two percent of the total of more than two million guest workers.

To put this in context: Qatar has 2.8 million inhabitants, the majority of the population are mostly male guest workers from Bangladesh, Nepal or Pakistan.

They are responsible for Doha's luster but have significantly fewer rights than Qatari nationals.

For example, they are not allowed to organize in unions and are still heavily dependent on the goodwill of their employer.

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The kafala system

A system of guarantees that also exists in other Gulf States.

Employees need an employer who vouches for them.

De facto, a large dependency arises because the employer has a large number of rights and regulations over the employee.

Amnesty writes of a power imbalance.

Video: World Cup organizers admit exploitation of workers in Qatar

Amnesty International sees light and shadow in the overall picture.

"In addition to welcome legislative reform steps, there are inadequacies, stagnation and in some cases even regression in the implementation of reforms." Overall, their own investigations showed "very clearly" that "for the majority of migrant workers, noticeable improvements in their human rights situation have not yet been experienced in practice are,” writes Amnesty.

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