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The reforms announced by Qatar y'day - inc removal of the no objection certificate (NOC) - need proper evaluation once we all see the law, but seem to represent a serious development. We've heard before about kafala reform and been disappointed. This feels more substantial. 1/9
Abolition of the NOC has been one of the key things activists have called on Qatar to do for the past decade. The NOC is at the heart of employers’ control over workers in the Gulf. See this 2014 UN report (doc) on how the NOC drives forced labour. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session26/Documents/A-HRC-26-35-Add1_en.doc 2/9
If this works how the Q govt says it will (and it will take time to assess this) it has potential to give workers some agency over their destiny and start addressing the huge power imbalance between workers & employers, highlighted by @amnesty here https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE2252422016ENGLISH.PDF. 3/9
That said, talking about the end of kafala may be premature when workers’ residence will remain tied to their employers, and employers can still accuse them of “absconding”, a criminal offence. These are part of kafala - see this 2017 ILO report. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---arabstates/---ro-beirut/documents/publication/wcms_552697.pdf 4/9
And alongside legitimate optimism, remember that Qatar must address other deep-rooted issues: e.g. for its new min wage to really work, it has to fix issues around wage theft. Last week @HRW reported on the struggles of workers trying to claim back $$ https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/08/24/qatar-little-progress-protecting-migrant-workers 5/9
Qatar also continues to hold back data about the number and causes of deaths of the hundreds of migrant workers die each year. There is evidence that many of these are linked to heat stress. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/oct/02/revealed-hundreds-of-migrant-workers-dying-of-heat-stress-in-qatar-each-year 6/9
Domestic workers remain at high risk of abuse, despite a 2017 law that for the first time provided them with some rights in law. Check out the work of @migrantrights on this and many other issues that need continued focus after the passing this law https://www.migrant-rights.org/2020/08/qatar-reforms-greater-job-mobility-and-higher-minimum-wage/ 7/9
In beginning to address kafala, and setting a minimum wage that doesn’t discriminate, Qatar seems to be finally going places that its GCC neighbours have not been. It should go the distance & set a serious example for them on worker pay and heat stress deaths too. 8/9
Finally it was 10 yrs ago Qatar won the WC, bringing focus on its labour practices & creating momentum for change. Global interest is fading, maybe due to a sense things are “fixed”. It's vital that scrutiny is sustained beyond these reforms & even when Dec 2022 comes & goes 9/9
Thanks to @workerscup for allowing us to use the image in the final tweet of this thread! We encourage anyone with an interest in workers' rights in Qatar to watch this film!
