With less than three weeks to go before the Soccer World Cup in Qatar, the UN’s International Labor Organization (ILO) highlighted the abuses in the way guest workers are treated in the emirate. There are a growing number of complaints from migrant workers in Qatar, mainly about unpaid wages, according to two ILO reports released on Tuesday.
According to ILO reports, the number more than doubled after the launch of an online complaints platform. From October 2021 to October 2022, 34,425 complaints were filed. “The main reasons for the complaints concern the non-payment of wages and indemnities after termination of an employment relationship and the non-granting or payment of vacation,” said the UN labor organization.
About 10,500 migrant worker complaints ended up in court and workers won 84% of the cases. In July 2022, 582.4 million Qatari riyals (160 million euros) were paid to compensate over 37,000 workers. By the end of September, the sum had grown to nearly 1.166 million Qatari riyals.
Changing jobs should be made easier
“This shows the magnitude of the problem of unpaid wages,” the ILO said. Qatar “improved the working and living conditions of hundreds of thousands of workers” with “significant” reforms, but it must “continue to work in full respect of international labor standards”. Opportunities for workers to file complaints and claim their wages must be expanded. In addition, changing jobs should be facilitated.
Qatar was selected in 2010 to host the 2022 World Cup. Since then, international workers’ organizations and human rights activists have regularly criticized human rights abuses in the emirate, particularly the oppression of women and sexual minorities and the treatment of workers. migrants from Asia and Africa in construction, security, hospitality and domestic work. Faced with international pressure, the World Cup host country decided to reform the labor market between 2018 and 2020.
Of the 1,036 guest workers the ILO interviewed in May and June for its report, 86% confirmed that the reforms had a positive effect. According to the ILO, more than 280,000 workers and thus around 13% of all private sector workers in Qatar have benefited from the minimum wage introduced in March 2021.
heat problem
ILO reports also indicated progress in preventing heat-related problems for workers. After the introduction of new rules in this regard, 351 affected people were treated at four guest worker clinics this summer. According to the ILO, there were still 620 guest workers in 2021 and up to 1,520 in 2020. However, ILO reports did not provide any information on the deaths of guest workers at the Qatar World Cup construction sites.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser met with union and ILO representatives on Monday at the start of her trip to Qatar. The program of his two-day trip also included a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Before his departure, the interior minister, who is also responsible for sport, told the ARD magazine “Monitor” about the host country of the World Cup and the human rights situation there that it would be better “not to be assigned to such states”. Qatar then summoned the German ambassador on Friday. In a joint statement on Saturday, the Gulf monarchies dismissed Faeser’s comments as “interference in Qatar’s internal affairs”. (afp)