Qatar Amir's visit should prioritise migrant worker protections: HRW

The anticipated visits of the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, to Bangladesh and Nepal, special attention should be given to safeguarding the rights of migrant workers. 

These nations play crucial roles for Qatar's migrant labour force, constituting 88 percent of its population. Al-Thani is slated to visit Bangladesh on April 22, 2024, followed by Nepal on April 24, Human Rights Watch said.

"It is important for Qatar, Bangladesh, and Nepal to go beyond exchanging diplomatic pleasantries over their longstanding labour ties and seize this moment to publicly commit to concrete, enforceable protections that address the serious abuses that migrant workers in Qatar continue to face," said Michael Page, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The Qatari Amir should not just meet heads of state, but also visit dialysis centres filled with migrant worker returnees from Qatar and speak with the families of workers who died in Qatar to see the grave consequences of inadequate Qatari labour protections."

Migrant labourers hailing from Bangladesh and Nepal play an essential role in fueling Qatar's economy, notably in the preparations of the 2022 World Cup. 

The migrant routes from Qatar to Nepal and Bangladesh are heavily travelled, with numerous workers embarking on this journey daily.

Despite being labelled as "guest workers" in a nation that typically doesn't extend citizenship to foreign nationals, the prevalent expectation is for these individuals to enter Qatar, labour, accumulate earnings, and eventually depart. 

Employment opportunities within Qatar enable migrant workers to send remittance support back to their families; however, for many, their experiences in Qatar leave them in a worsened state compared to before they migrated. 

Instances of exploitation, such as wage theft, contractual breaches, and ailments resulting from hazardous work environments, are distressingly common.

Exposure to Qatar's scorching temperatures particularly affects those engaged in outdoor tasks, exacerbated by inadequate safeguards against this significant health risk.

 Furthermore, some workers have faced deportation for simply demanding their entitled wages and benefits as per their contracts.

Some workers also have been deported for demanding their contractually-owed wages and benefits. 

There have been thousands of unexplained deaths of young, healthy migrant workers in Qatar, and in many cases grieving families receive neither an explanation of the reasons for their loved ones' death nor compensation from employers or Qatari authorities.

The governments of Bangladesh and Nepal should not only highlight the importance of remittances but also the high costs that workers often bear to earn them, such as wage theft and recruitment fees. 

A 2020 survey found that the average recruitment costs for Bangladeshis going to work in Qatar was about US$3,863, equivalent to 18 months of earnings in Qatar. 

Workers take out informal loans at exorbitant interest rates to pay the fees. Research by Human Rights Watch has shown the role of Qatar-based companies in driving up worker-paid recruitment fees.

Qatar's failure to safeguard worker rights and inadequate compensation mechanisms means that the responsibility is shifted to the origin countries' governments to address harm originating in Qatar.

Many workers returning from Qatar are burdened with long-term diseases such as chronic kidney failure, for which the Nepali government provides free dialysis services.

 Families of many migrant workers who have lost their lives in Qatar rely on compensation through welfare funds set up unilaterally by countries of origin.

Human Rights Watch has documented the experiences of families who received no support from Qatari authorities or their employers despite losing their primary breadwinner, since the causes of their deaths are not classified as work-related.

Recognizing the inadequacies of the compensation system, Qatar's own Supreme Committee urged its contractors to obtain life insurance for their employees, but this was adopted only by a handful of companies, even at the height of the 2022 World Cup when the world's eyes were on Qatar's migrant rights record.

The climate crisis is likely to worsen the risks to workers, which will further increase the care burden to overstretched healthcare systems in countries like Nepal and Bangladesh. 

These countries themselves are on the front lines of climate catastrophes despite their negligible greenhouse gas emissions.

Qatari authorities have introduced labour reforms, but Human Rights Watch has shown that they came too late and were too little and too narrow in scope. 

They have not abolished the abusive kafala (labour sponsorship) system that enables these abuses in its entirety.

Qatari authorities have claimed these reforms were not about the World Cup alone but a part of a process that continues beyond the tournament. Yet post-World Cup, many workers were stranded in Qatar in difficult conditions.

The labour agreements that are anticipated to be updated and signed during the Amir's visits should incorporate concrete provisions to address these issues, and the agreements themselves need to be made publicly available, Human Rights Watch said.

The significance of labour reforms or the agreements with migrant origin countries boils down to their implementation and their effectiveness in addressing widespread abuses, which requires strong enforcement mechanisms. 

Diplomatic visits, labour agreements, or labour reforms ring hollow if homecoming continues to be marred by unpaid wages or benefits, chronic kidney disease, and uninvestigated and uncompensated deaths.

"Public commitments by the Qatari Amir to concrete, enforceable worker protections during these two high-profile visits, including compensation to workers who faced serious abuses and families of the deceased, would be the best way to mark his trips to the homes of millions of current and former workers who have helped transform Qatar," Page said.