Qatar hits back at Amnesty labour claims

Doha claims it has made strides in protecting workers' rights.

File photo taken during a government-organised media tour on May 3, 2015 shows Nischal Tamang, a labourer from Nepal, taking a break from his work in Doha, Qatar. Maya Alleruzzo/AP Photo

DOHA // Qatar insisted on Thursday it was “committed” to improving conditions for its huge number of migrant labourers following an Amnesty report accusing Doha of failing to deliver on promised reforms.

The 2022 football World Cup host defend itself after Amnesty said Doha was still “failing migrant workers” in key areas such as pay, the “kafala” system that blocks workers from leaving the country and curbs on changing employers, despite promising wholesale change more than 12 months ago.

It was the latest criticism against Qatar over labour practices in the country but Doha hit back in a statement from the ministry of labour and social affairs, insisting that reforms had been put in place.

“Significant changes have been made over the last year to improve the rights and conditions of expatriate workers,” read the statement.

“No one should be in any doubt that we are committed to effective and sustainable change.”

Adding that “we disagree with a number of its (Amnesty’s) claims”, the ministry said reforms in the past 12 months included the introduction of an electronic wage protection system to ensure workers get paid on time and promised accommodation improvements for more than 250,000 workers.

The ministry added the number of labour inspectors — 294 — would be increased to 400 by the end of the year.

In addition more than 51,000 site visits were carried out in 2014, said the ministry.

It also said that “the promotion and protection of human rights, including the rights of expatriate workers” was at the heart of Qatar’s economic and social policies.

Pointing to the money earned by labourers, the ministry said that more than $12 billion had been sent home by labourers in 2014, “considerably more than they would earn at home”.

Qatar is expected to more than double the number of migrant labourers in the country to 2.5 million by 2020 ahead of hosting the World Cup.

The Qatari response did not specifically address the kafala issue but earlier this month Abdullah bin Saleh Al Khulaifi, the minister of labour and social affairs, said he was “90 per cent” certain it would be replaced by the end of 2015.

* Agence France-Presse