Human Rights Watch report - Qatar

Hi,

Human Rights in Qatar have good reports online, the problem is they are only ink on paper, not acknowledged and not enforced by law.

I went to see them last year for NOC related issue, as per their document, the employer has to grant NOC in case they end the employee's contract for no good reason. When I went to their office, I met with a lady officer who did not know anything about human rights nor the document on their company website and told me the employer can do anything, we cannot prevent them.

MT: there is not even a definite answer to Aisha's age, but people are using her case in vian to justify their disgusting lusts.

Genesis--it's a good thing that Qataris are not racist, xenophobic, or anti-Semitic. Otherwise 2022 would have been very awkward.

to the OP--It is very rare for a slave owner to free his slaves. Historically, he must be forced by his government or the outside. If the West followed up its values with actions, they could boycott Qatar's natural gas; until then, the West is a willing participant.

All about sheer greed. There is no appetite to enforce the laws because it would cost some of the big companies a great deal of money if they had to pay EOS ben or increase their wages or send them home when they are supposed to.

Things will not change when there are so many greedy and selfish people around

Lets look at FIFA most pressing concern.

1. Forcing Brazil to change their laws so that the alcohol of their sponsors can be sold in the stadiums. As the Secretary of FIFA said this is non-negotiable.

2. Racism in EURO 2012

......errrr..... can't think of anything

3. Human Right Abuses in Qatar or anywhere

......errrr... no again.

So they will force Qatar to flood Doha with alcohol against the local populations wishes but will not insist on proper working conditions for labourers.

Human Rights is just a popular "buzz phrase"..FIFA is just jumping on the wagon..

HRW can't do anything..except take donations and keep publishing studies..

FIFA will gladly take your money and put their head back in the collective ass of the donor...

You're right Genesis FIFA doesn't care, not about football and not about social issues, wether in Qatar or Poland/Ukraine. No money in caring...

I agree Genesis. FIFA doesn't actually care. It just wants to be seen to be caring, but not actually do anything.

FIFA Doesn’t care . If they did,they have would responded to criticism over the issues of racism, anti-Semitism & homophobia in Ukraine & Poland raised prior to UEFA Euro 2012

First Fifa accepts bribes n then investigates hmm so intelligent of them

Yes it is, Chota.

FIFA has now been forced to accept that there are too many allegations of bribery and corruption for it to ignore them any longer.

After the humiliation that Mohamed Bin Hammam brought to Qatar, FIFA wants to investigate the issues of bribery, corruption, voting irregularities and match fixing.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/29/sport/football/fifa-moreno-ocampo/index.html

is FIFA suffering from crisis

HWR do not have the power to change anything they can just apply pressure.

However FIFA have the ability to force change and if Qatar does not agree they can move the World Cup. Well that is if FIFA can take a break with stuffing their pockets with money.

adnanraheem123, I believe this thread about the labour situation in Qatar, correct? If you want, please google a little bit and you'll sure find a handful on the Palestinian issue.

Change in our lifetime...lol

ok, you can put down the "crack pipe" now..

This report is a load of "poo"...

HRW and FIFA, have the ability to really make a change..

But that will not happen..

Why was there not suspense date to get this stuff moving??

Because, it is all just "fluff"..

On paper it will appear as there are changes..

But the worker will never see that..

It's not like the GOVT here just heard about these issues..

There is no "checks and balance" system here..

Until the government and citizens of Qatar, recognize that all people are equal, change will be difficult.

A phrase comes to mind...

"There is no bite in that dog"...

Why not just go to the Human Rights Watch web page and read the HUNDREDS of reports they have published for countries all over world?

http://www.hrw.org/middle-east/n-africa

Apparently the scenes are much worster in the labour camps than what they posted in report...may i ask you to please share some reports which the same org. made against the inhumanity towards palestinians and against those poor peoples who are suffering because of U.S's brutality!!!!

its not mute just they r not treated as humans n r of no interest

Well Chota, HRW and a number of other Human Rights organisations including Amnesty and others do publish reports on abuses in Palenstine, Iraq and Afghanistan so your point is mute.

interesting. dwnlod for reading later.

TFS

To whomever it may concern :)

The sponsorship system is a main cause of the exploitations - and who can stop the law of the might ones invading other countries , causing loss of land , lives isn't this too an exploitation ??

chota your question address to HUMAN rights or for Qler's???

chota, they don't take actions, they just make recommendations :) what to do yani?

I have read the full report and I don’t think anybody can dispute that they are facts.

The sponsorship system is a main cause of the exploitations of going on in this country.In every other progressive country in GCC, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, the Labor rules are more balanced, employee too has some rights over his sponsorship and freedom of movement. And every other country in GCC expect KSA has abolished exit permit system long time ago because the govt. realized rigid sponsorship & permit system gives upper hand to employers and that generates chance exploit and abuse employees.

Note that the report mainly talks about the construction industry because of the large No: of laborers in that industry, but exploitation is rampant in other industries too. An Engineer’s or an Accountant’s situation is no different than a construction labor when it comes to labor rules. Last year about 12 employees in our firm was forced to leave the after expiry of contract; many had wife and kids here. They had offers from firms which are not competitors and few of them had job offers from Govt but were plainly denied NOC and no reason was given...

Look at UAE for eg: they still have sponsorship system; The employer and employee have equal rights. They have an effective Labor dept and are friendly. An employee can change sponsor/job after 2 years of completing the contract if both parties do not intent to continue and the employee doesn’t need NOC.

If folks in higher up thinks they can get away with these Stone Age rules/ modern day slavery; they are living in fool’s paradise. Being in international stage is a different ball game altogether and they are going to learn it in the hard way. They have longed for publicity and Qatar is getting it finally, but not exactly the way they wanted it. It is really unfortunate that even after winning the bid to host the prestigious world cup 2022 Qatar is not willing to change these rules. This makes us think about selfishness and lack of kindness of few in higher ups..

If Qatar is seeking more respect and political role in the Middle East and in the International stage, and wants to be respected as a legit country they have to shed their inhibitions fear and address and fix these problems.

why does human right take no actions on innocent killed in iraq and afghanistan and palestine

There have been reports of harassment, nonpayment of salaries improper and inhumane labour conditions and accommodation in Qatar. The latest is nonpayment of 6 months’ salary and denial to NOC to avoid end of service Gratuity and other dues by the Company Management of my colleague’s brother who has been serving in this company around 15 years. When he finally decided to stop going to the office 2 months back the company’s management filed a complaint against him at the police station claiming the employee has been on the run finally he was arrested at his home in Doha and subsequently deported. The Qatari Government should take appropriate and strict action against such management who disobey the Labour Laws of Qatar and who want to spoil the name of Qatar for their personal gains. Not giving workers’ rights is un-Islamic and will be judged by God. After all Qatar is an Islamic Country and the people should respect the Islamic Values they preach about so much .

Translator said, "Human Rights Watch have a long proven records of publishing politically motivated reports"

Interesting. I did think that the report was used as leverage for political mileage esp with the WC upcoming mega projects and the need for Qatar to look good in the international arena.

But well, it's a start and there are many labourers who do suffer these conditions in the work camps.

/Btw, I viewed Al Jazeera yesterday when this Human Rights report was highlighted. The scenes of the work camps reminded me of my former accomodation in Doha Jadeed ... so I was thinking to myself, errr... what harsh conditions are they talking about? ... Ok, ok, we have a/c for the 10 month summer and can buy heaters and blankets during winter time.

Actually the report does mention hire 'recruitment fees' from 'agents'in home countries who exploit these people, however I fail to see why the Qatar government does not enforce its own laws. The laws are just for show, just words on paper, now the light is being shone on the country, time to do something.

In the GCC this has been going on ever since the first slaves/workers/labourers came. (Don't forget Qatar had defacto slavery of east Africans up to the 1950s).

In the past no one took much notice of these organisations pointing out the plight of a few, but now with a high profile even like WC these organisations have a stick with which it beat Qatar and go on beating they will..... it will start to get uncomfortable for some.

The report can ofcourse use the vague term that "many" laborer do not get their monthly pay on time since they have interviewed only a small section, and yes it had highlighted the solution of tackling this wage issue by following Dubai which has introduced electronic payment system for every employee which will result in easy monitoring of by the mol,and also to set a minimum wage.

As the report stated the blame should be on the sponsorship system, am pretty sure that if there wasn't sponsorship system the working environment would be much better as the worker can 'demand'.

Yep, it's all lies.

Actually, this (and other labour issues) have been going on for so many years. As far as I'm aware, nearly a decade already.

The problem is not with the Qatar Govt but mainly, the companies that employ these workers. Many of them only consider their profit margins and don't look after their staff. The Govt's efforts in enforcement of labour laws were not entirely effective in protecting genuinely hardworking people, hence that needs work.

Awareness is always the 1st step to change. Hope the change will be more concrete instead of just lip service. It's a start at least.

A highly sophisticated agitation of the same whining we find daily here on QL. The report does not even discriminate basic facts which applies to all residents, such as food price increase, etc.

The report also nags quite ridiculously about the subject of holding passports. The security and criminal consequences of not doing so is beyond dispute. The internal security requirement of the country is a no-issue to the report.

What the report fails to address is the corrupt governments and labor trading gangs in the sending countries. I want to see a single embassy which requires that their citizens are not sent to Qatar without giving them a full education course of their rights as laborers in Qatar. The embassies are equally responsible about the well being of their citizens here, I am yet to see an embassy which raised a flag, or even an eye brows.

The report uses vague terms. It says for example that "many" laborer do not get their monthly pay on time.

I do not deny that there are cases of abuse and illegal misconduct. But I find the report playing a note that they chose, and ignored everything else.

The report also failed to provide practical solutions to meet both the laborer requirements, and the needs of the government and employers.

Human Rights Watch have a long proven records of publishing politically motivated reports.

The most important sectors in Qatar like O&G are exempt from the Labor Law of 2004!

Shameless indeed.

humans rights get blind when ppl get killed elsewhere

what to do yani..!

There is also a Labor Law of 2004, moza. Is it implemented?

Well many organsations did answer including Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, but will their actions match their words?

Cool. Qatar should be ashamed to the bones!