DOHA: Qatar is running out of time to stamp out widespread serious labor abuse for tens of thousands of migrant workers before hosting the 2022 World Cup, Amnesty International warned Tuesday.
The human rights group said in a yet another critical labor report that despite well-publicized “nascent reforms,” Qatar risks breaking its promise to the world to deliver meaningful change before football’s biggest tournament is hosted for the first time in the Middle East.
“Time is running out if the Qatari authorities want to deliver a legacy we can all cheer, namely a labor system that ends the abuse and misery inflicted upon so many migrant workers every day,” said Amnesty’s Stephen Cockburn.
Although the “Reality Check” report focuses on conditions for all of the two million migrant workers in Qatar, not just the 30,000 on direct World Cup projects, Amnesty said FIFA had an “ongoing responsibility” to prevent abuse.
The report stated that despite reforms, conditions “for many migrant workers in Qatar remain harsh.”
Amnesty called on Qatar to strengthen and properly enforce current labor laws, tackle worker debt by increasing the minimum wage, stop passports being held by bosses and, crucially, fundamentally overhaul the “kafala,” or sponsorship, system.
This practice, which ties workers to their employers, restricts their ability to change jobs or leave the country, remains firmly in place, said Amnesty, despite Doha’s promises to end the system.
Amnesty also called for much better protection for some 175,000 domestic workers, who remain “out of sight and out of mind.”
“Holes in the reforms to date mean many workers are still stuck in harsh conditions, vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, while those who return home do so empty handed, with no compensation and no justice,” added Cockburn.
The report could temper the current jubilatory mood in Qatar, where there has been widespread celebration since the national team won its first ever Asian Cup at the weekend.
The wealthy gas-rich state has initiated a series of labor reforms in recent years following intense international pressure and at a time of deep political tension within the Gulf, which has seen Qatar isolated by former neighboring allies.
Qatar has introduced a monthly minimum wage of 750 Qatari riyals ($206, 180 euros), a system to ensure workers are paid electronically, and partially scrapped the exit visa system which meant workers had to seek employers’ permission before leaving the country.
It also agreed in 2017 to work closely with the International Labour Organization (ILO), which now has a Doha office, to improve workers’ conditions.
Time running out on Qatar labor reform, warns Amnesty
Time running out on Qatar labor reform, warns Amnesty
- Amnesty called on Qatar to strengthen and properly enforce current labor laws
- It also called for much better protection for some 175,000 domestic workers, who remain “out of sight and out of mind”
Israeli settler attack injures Palestinian baby, five arrested
- The eight-month-old infant suffered “moderate injuries to the face and head” in the late Wednesday attack
- Israeli police said five suspects had been arrested for their “alleged involvement in serious, violent incidents in the village of Sair“
JERUSALEM: Israeli security forces announced on Thursday the arrest of five Israeli settlers over their alleged involvement in an attack on a Palestinian home that injured a baby girl in the occupied West Bank.
The eight-month-old infant suffered “moderate injuries to the face and head” in the late Wednesday attack, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
It blamed the attack on “a group of armed settlers,” accusing them of “throwing stones at homes and property” in the town of Sair, north of Hebron.
A statement from the Israeli police said that five suspects had been arrested for their “alleged involvement in serious, violent incidents in the village of Sair.”
Israeli security forces had received reports of “stones being thrown by Israeli civilians toward a Palestinian home,” adding a Palestinian girl was injured.
“The preliminary investigation determined the involvement of several suspects who came from a nearby outpost,” the statement said, referring to Israeli settlements not officially recognized by Israeli authorities.
All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal by the international community.
Some are also illegal under Israeli law, though many of those are later given official recognition.
Almost none of the perpetrators of previous attacks by settlers have been held to account by the Israeli authorities.
A Telegram group linked to the “Hilltop Youth,” a movement of hard-line settlers who advocate direct action against Palestinians, posted a video showing property damage in Sair.
More than 500,000 Israelis currently live in settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, as do around three million Palestinians.
Violence involving settlers has risen in recent years, according to the United Nations, and October was the worst month since it began recording such incidents in 2006, with 264 attacks that caused casualties or property damage.
The violence in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967, has surged since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, which triggered the Gaza war.
Since the start of the war, Israeli troops and settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, including many militants as well as dozens of civilians, according to an AFP tally based on figures from the Palestinian health ministry.
According to official Israeli figures, at least 44 Israelis, both soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations in the same period.
