Yahoo – AFP,
May 2, 2014
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| World Cup host Qatar in May Day pledge on workers' rights |
Leading
critic Amnesty International, which attended the conference, welcomed Qatar's
openness in addressing the issue but called for it go much further and reform
the whole system of restrictions it imposes on expatriates who make up 93
percent of the workforce.
The
conservative Gulf states have traditionally tolerated no May Day
commemorations, but the Qatari Football Association said that Thursday's
conference had been timed to coincide with "Labour Day".
Labour and
Social Affairs Minister Abdullah al-Khulaifi told the conference that Qatar was
taking steps to enforce prompt payment for all workers, as well as building
better accommodation and boosting the number of safety inspectors at
construction sites.
"Our
(Islamic) religion has ordered us to treat workers in a humane way, and not to
task them with unbearable jobs... most importantly, to pay them," Khulaifi
said.
The
government approved a recommendation Wednesday to make the electronic transfer
of wages mandatory.
"We
hope that the wage protection system will achieve its aims," Khulaifi
said.
He said the
government planned to build two new "labour cities" in Doha's
industrial zone with a capacity to house 100,000 workers.
Five other
compounds were being built elsewhere in the emirate to accommodate 120,000
workers, he said.
Additional
safety inspectors had also been recruited, as well as interpreters with a
command of the Asian languages that are the mother tongues of most of the
migrant workforce.
Amnesty's
head of global issues, Audrey Gaughran, urged Qatar to go further and reform
the sponsorship system, under which a foreign worker cannot return home without
an exit permit from his Qatari sponsor, among other restrictions.
'Appalling conditions'
"Exit
permit is a flagrant breach of human rights," she told the forum,
insisting that it should not be left in the hands of a private employer.
Gaughran
said she met on Wednesday with 10 Nepalese migrant workers who were living in
"appalling conditions" after their Qatari sponsor disappeared along
with their passports.
"They
live on handouts," unable to return home even though they bought their
travel tickets, she said.
Amnesty had
said previously that the tens of thousands of migrant workers building the
multi-billion-dollar World Cup infrastructure were being treated like
"animals", with hundreds dying on the construction sites.
The
International Trade Union Confederation has warned that at current rates, as
many as 4,000 people might die by the time the tournament kicks off in eight
years' time.
The
International Labour Organisation called on Qatar earlier this month to remove
a host of restrictions on migrant workers forming trade unions or striking.
Qatar said
Thursday it has received a report it had commissioned international law firm
DLA Piper to prepare on workers' conditions.
It said
authorities will "thoroughly" review the findings and study the
feasibility and sustainability of the recommendations.
"The
welfare of workers in the State of Qatar is a matter of utmost
importance," it said, promising to respond to the recommendations and
release the report to the public after reviewing it.
The 2022
World Cup has been plagued by controversy ever since it was awarded to the tiny
Gulf state.
FIFA
president Sepp Blatter has called for the tournament to be played during the
northern hemisphere's winter rather than in the searing heat of a Gulf summer.
But he has
met fierce resistance from the big European leagues.
A decision
will not be taken until 2015.
 |
Foreign
construction workers in Doha, Qatar: Officials said they would abolish
the
country’s 'kafala' sponsorship system – which ties workers to a single
employer.
Photograph: EPA
|
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