Qatar | Amnesty: Little progress made on labor reforms

Qatar is failing to deliver on reforms for its migrant workers a year after the wealthy Gulf nation announced plans to improve conditions for low-paid laborers building its highways, hotels, stadiums and skyscrapers, Amnesty International said yesterday.
In a new briefing paper, the London-based rights group criticized the 2022 World Cup host for making no substantive changes on some labor issues, including the controversial “kafala” employee sponsorship system, and delivering only partial progress in other areas.
The report was released a day after three major World Cup sponsors — Adidas, Coca-Cola and Visa — publicly pressured soccer’s world governing body FIFA to push Qatar to do more to improve labor conditions.
Qatar is being transformed by a building boom fueled by its vast oil and natural gas wealth. Like other energy-rich Gulf nations with relatively small local populations, it relies on well over a million guest workers, many of them drawn from South Asian nations including India and Nepal.
Qatar responded to Amnesty’s latest report by saying it disagrees with some of the claims and asserting it has made “significant changes” to improve working conditions.
The government believes that promoting human rights for guest workers and others is a “strategic choice and the backbone of the comprehensive constitutional, economic, social and cultural reform policy” of the country, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs said.
It cited a number of changes made over the past year, including efforts to boost the number of labor inspectors, provide better housing for workers and crack down on employers and labor recruiters who break Qatari law.
In May 2014, officials outlined plans for legislation that could end in its current form the kafala system that ties expatriate workers to a single employer.
The draft law also would allow workers to obtain exit visas without having to secure their employers’ consent. Rights groups say the existing policies leave workers open to exploitation and abuse.
Amnesty says the reforms aren’t coming fast enough.
“We’ve had a year, and not much has changed. For us that’s a really important thing,” Amnesty’s Gulf migrant rights researcher Mustafa Qadri said in an interview. “The situation has probably gotten worse because you have more workers now. … There’s a matter of urgency.” Adam Schreck, Dubai, AP