Qatar was formed in the 1970s and has grown into a nation of almost 2.2 million people. According to Human Rights Watch, only about 300,000 are actually citizens and the rest are expatriates and migrant workers. Qatar’s economy and growing infrastructure relies heavily on migrant workers, but poor conditions have caused death and exploitation in the labor sector.
The info-graphic (see right) explains the typical life cycle for a migrant worker, from the time they're contacted, until they eventually leave the country. From the beginning workers are tricked and exploited by a labor system that closely resembles modern slavery.
Last year, amid corruption and scandal, Qatar was chosen to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022. The choice came as a surprise to many and quickly revealed the harsh conditions many workers experience in Qatar and other countries in the Middle East. Many workers have already died in preparation for the world cup and there will be more deaths if conditions continue. The Washington Post reported, “The International Trade Union Confederation has estimated 1,200 deaths in recent years. If current trends continue, the ITUC estimates that 4,000 workers will die in Qatar by the time the World Cup is actually held in 2022.”
The largest culprit in these deaths is the Kafala System. According to The Guardian, the Kafala System is a type of sponsorship system that controls immigration. The system requires citizens to sponsor people who immigrate to the country. This gives sponsors control over the workers' passports and legal status. Sponsors are often times the employers, and in some cases, the sponsors surrender their power to corporations and contractors.
This is an obvious conflict of interest and allows employers to treat their workers unfairly. This conflict of interest is a problem because the sponsor has too much control over the workers, and there are many cases where workers are exploited. TWC2, a Singapore news agency investigating working conditions abroad, interviewed current and former migrant workers in Qatar. Their report found that workers retain no rights over their passports, which allows employers to deport them without any reason. Sponsors control living standards and residency, meaning workers often end up in shacks with no plumbing or worse. There is also no set minimum wage, and employers have been known to renegotiate contracts as soon as the worker arrives. Wage and housing disputes often end in deportation or the withholding of wages. This system is being also used in other countries: Lebanon, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
While conditions can be worse in Qatar, where the temperature often stays above 100 degrees, the working conditions in these other countries often violate international human rights standards. It is up to the United States and other developed nations around the world to stand up for human rights. While Qatar says the system will be abolished before the end of the year, there are no indications that changes are actually going to be made.
