After repeated criticisms from groups such as Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch, Qatar has introduced legislation to overhaul its widely criticized migrant worker employment system (known as kafala) and improve safety conditions on sites such as the venues under construction for the 2022 World Cup.
Such pledged reforms have indicated sufficient progress that the United Nations’ International Labour Organization has closed a three-year-old complaint into alleged abuses that third-party observers had deemed “appalling,” “repressive” and “dreadful.” The ILO and Qatar will now enter a three-year period of comprehensive technical cooperation. Among the changes are a contractual system of employment, a minimum wage and permission for inspectors to monitor the workplace.
Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy — the organizing body for World Cup preparations — has implemented a pair of cooling technologies to mitigate some of the country’s extreme heat: cooling helmets, towels and vests that workers could wear while on site. Another development has been the committee’s partnership with the Commercial Bank Qatar (CBQ) on an app that enables workers to transfer money internationally to their families on a mobile device rather than waste some two hours traveling to and waiting at a bank location.
Among the many strategic objectives outlined in the ILO report is a commitment to providing “tools of information technology, communications and the Internet at workers’ temporary accommodation to help their integration into digital society and reinforce their access to information and services.”
“While we welcome and support this agreement between the ILO and Qatar, we emphasize that nice words and good intentions are not sufficient,” Catelene Passchier, president of the Workers’ Group of the ILO, said, according to Reuters. “Implementation of these intentions in law and practice is critical.”
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As recently as late September, the Human Rights Watch advocated “urgent action” to protect workers in Qatar, saying that the current restrictions on outdoor labor (from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the period of June 15 to Aug. 31) was insufficient given scorching temperatures at other hours and times.
In light of that report, the Supreme Committee said it acknowledged HRW’s concerns, refuted the claim that it had “abdicated responsibility” on caring for workers and noted that medical screenings and cooling technologies had been implemented.
“We continue to co-ordinate closely with the ILO and international NGOs to implement reforms that will improve the health, safety and rights of migrant workers,” Sheik Saif Al Thani, director of the Government Communications Office, told CNN in a statement.