Qatar's new slavewomen
In 2010 it became clear that the FIFA World Cup in 2022 would be hosted by Qatar. A very controversial result that stirred calls for boycotts, and even for a re-vote. Still, the projects for the new stadiums have already been initiated, with some massive construction works going on all around the tiny country. From the day when the construction started, until today, various construction incidents have claimed the lives of at least 1200 workers, mostly from India and Nepal. This fact, as well as the horrible overall working conditions for foreigners in Qatar, have caused a major outcry around the world.
According to a recent Amnesty International report, guest workers in Qatar have been subject to exploitation for much longer than that, and this is not only limited to the construction sector. That NGO has explored the working conditions of the housekeepers and chambermaids in the wealthy Gulf monarchy, and the conclusion is that not only do they receive ridiculously low wages, but they often work for 100+ hours a week, without breaks and days off, they suffer from insomnia, frequent humiliation and violence at the hands of their employers - or should I say, masters.
The foreigners who work in Qatar as cleaners, cooks, babysitters, drivers and gardeners, are more than 130 thousand now. 84 thousand of them are women. And most are from South and South-East Asia.
The Amnesty International research encompasses a period between October 2012 and March 2013. As per the testimony of the 52 women who participated, beatings and all other sorts of physical and psychological violence on them is rampant. For example, an Indonesian woman not only displayed stabbing wounds on her body, but also marks from a hot iron. Three other women admitted they had been raped. You can imagine that these cases are seldom revealed, because women are afraid they could turn from victims to accused, and be blamed of "indecent" behaviour by what is one of the most patriarchical Islamic societies in the modern world.
Although a survey of 52 participants is hardly representative enough, these are still facts that only partly remove the lid over a broader picture that could turn out to be of really staggering proportions. The embassies of the countries that generate the bulk of this guest-worker influx are flooded with complaints about these things on a daily basis. For instance, the Qatar Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking has registered between 200 and 300 complaints monthly for 2013.
The work recruitment agencies in their home countries often lure these poor people with fraudulent promises of a bright future, and then send them to wealthy Qatari families, and seize their passports and put them in debts they cannot possibly repay, virtually turning them into modern-day slaves. Many of the recruits are given contracts in Arabic to sign without understanding a word of the content. And after they arrive in Qatar, they instantly become subject of the so called "sponsorship law" (which also exists in a number of other Middle East countries), which stipulates that every immigrant should have a guarantor, and that, by rule, should be the employer. Based on that law, the newcomers are literally doomed to serve their master and be completely at their mercy. Since without the guarantor's consent they can neither change their job nor leave the country, if they violate this law, they are subject to prosecution. But even without that law, their legal status is as weak as it could get: in principle there is a labour code in Qatar, but it doesn't apply to house workers and other such jobs, and there are many more loopholes of this sort.
This makes the necessity of a reform in the Qatari legislation more than urgent, especially now that the country is bracing itself for a major event that would inevitably put it into the world's focus. For starters, the labour code should also encompass the house jobs, and Qatar should repeal (or at least drastically reform) the "sponsorship law". Women who leave their employers should no longer be treated as criminals. And domestic violence should become punishable by law.
It is not like the international community has been kept in the dark about Qatar's (and other Gulf countries') humiliating treatment of foreign labour, but obviously the international pressure on these governments has been less than sufficient. No changes have occurred even after it became clear how bad the conditions of the construction workers for the upcoming World Cup were.
The only thing the Qatari government has done so far was to double the number of inspectors who do regular checks whether the labour legislation is applied as it should. While this is a step in the right direction, it is nowhere being enough. The Qatari government has been made aware of the Amnesty International report about the situation of the house workers and has promised to act swiftly and respond with adequate measures. As of now, however, that yet remains to be seen in reality.
According to a recent Amnesty International report, guest workers in Qatar have been subject to exploitation for much longer than that, and this is not only limited to the construction sector. That NGO has explored the working conditions of the housekeepers and chambermaids in the wealthy Gulf monarchy, and the conclusion is that not only do they receive ridiculously low wages, but they often work for 100+ hours a week, without breaks and days off, they suffer from insomnia, frequent humiliation and violence at the hands of their employers - or should I say, masters.
The foreigners who work in Qatar as cleaners, cooks, babysitters, drivers and gardeners, are more than 130 thousand now. 84 thousand of them are women. And most are from South and South-East Asia.
The Amnesty International research encompasses a period between October 2012 and March 2013. As per the testimony of the 52 women who participated, beatings and all other sorts of physical and psychological violence on them is rampant. For example, an Indonesian woman not only displayed stabbing wounds on her body, but also marks from a hot iron. Three other women admitted they had been raped. You can imagine that these cases are seldom revealed, because women are afraid they could turn from victims to accused, and be blamed of "indecent" behaviour by what is one of the most patriarchical Islamic societies in the modern world.
Although a survey of 52 participants is hardly representative enough, these are still facts that only partly remove the lid over a broader picture that could turn out to be of really staggering proportions. The embassies of the countries that generate the bulk of this guest-worker influx are flooded with complaints about these things on a daily basis. For instance, the Qatar Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking has registered between 200 and 300 complaints monthly for 2013.
The work recruitment agencies in their home countries often lure these poor people with fraudulent promises of a bright future, and then send them to wealthy Qatari families, and seize their passports and put them in debts they cannot possibly repay, virtually turning them into modern-day slaves. Many of the recruits are given contracts in Arabic to sign without understanding a word of the content. And after they arrive in Qatar, they instantly become subject of the so called "sponsorship law" (which also exists in a number of other Middle East countries), which stipulates that every immigrant should have a guarantor, and that, by rule, should be the employer. Based on that law, the newcomers are literally doomed to serve their master and be completely at their mercy. Since without the guarantor's consent they can neither change their job nor leave the country, if they violate this law, they are subject to prosecution. But even without that law, their legal status is as weak as it could get: in principle there is a labour code in Qatar, but it doesn't apply to house workers and other such jobs, and there are many more loopholes of this sort.
This makes the necessity of a reform in the Qatari legislation more than urgent, especially now that the country is bracing itself for a major event that would inevitably put it into the world's focus. For starters, the labour code should also encompass the house jobs, and Qatar should repeal (or at least drastically reform) the "sponsorship law". Women who leave their employers should no longer be treated as criminals. And domestic violence should become punishable by law.
It is not like the international community has been kept in the dark about Qatar's (and other Gulf countries') humiliating treatment of foreign labour, but obviously the international pressure on these governments has been less than sufficient. No changes have occurred even after it became clear how bad the conditions of the construction workers for the upcoming World Cup were.
The only thing the Qatari government has done so far was to double the number of inspectors who do regular checks whether the labour legislation is applied as it should. While this is a step in the right direction, it is nowhere being enough. The Qatari government has been made aware of the Amnesty International report about the situation of the house workers and has promised to act swiftly and respond with adequate measures. As of now, however, that yet remains to be seen in reality.