‘Breakthrough’ in Qatar modern slavery fight

The Khalifa stadium is one of the venues for the 2022 World Cup (The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy)

Negotiations to end the “kafala” system of modern slavery in Qatar have achieved a “breakthrough”, according to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The organisation said there is now “a clear government commitment to normalise industrial protections for migrant workers”, following discussions in Doha.

Qatar has received heavy criticism over the treatment of construction workers on 2022 World Cup projects, most recently from Amnesty International.

The ITUC said that new guidance and commitments made by the Qatar government will dismantle the system of kafala, which has affected millions of migrant workers in Qatar. These comprise six key steps:

• Employment contracts will be lodged with a government authority to prevent contract substitution, ending the practice of workers arriving in the country only to have their contract torn up and replaced with a different job, often on a lower wage.
• Employers will no longer be able to stop their employees from leaving the country.
• A minimum wage will be prescribed as a base rate covering all workers, ending the race-based system of wages.
• Identification papers will be issued directly by the State of Qatar, and workers will no longer rely on their employer to provide their ID card without which workers can be denied medical treatment.
• Workers’ committees will be established in each workplace, with workers electing their own representatives.
• A special disputes resolution committee with a timeframe for dealing with grievances will be a centrepiece for ensuring rapid remedy of complaints.

“The new guidance from Qatar signals the start of real reforms which will bring to an end the use of modern slavery and puts the country on the pathway to meeting its international legal obligations on workers’ rights,” said ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow.

“These initiatives have the support of the ITUC, and we hope that implementation will be also supported by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) with its technical expertise. Much remains to be done, but these steps open the way for workers to be treated with dignity and for their lives and livelihoods to be protected.”

The ITUC said it plans further meetings with Qatar’s labour minister on implementing labour rights for the two million migrant workers in the Gulf state. 

The union organisation has previously called for Qatar to end modern slavery and to put workers rights at the centre of the 2022 Fifa World Cup preparations.

It has called on the government to abolish the system of exit permits, to put in place a minimum wage to end the race-based wage differences, to allow workers representation, to eliminate contract substitution and to put in place a grievance procedure to settle disputes.

“These conditions have [now] been met, and we congratulate the Emir and Qatar’s labour minister for their commitment to modernise their industrial relations system,” said Burrow.