Workers’ rights in the Arab Gulf countries often come in for criticism, especially from organisations like Amnesty International and the International Labour Organisation. It’s true. The rules are abhorrent but often the criticism that is lurched at say Qatar is almost as true of the other Gulf countries.
But with the ongoing dispute between Qatar and four other states- Saudi Arabia, UAE, Brain and Egypt- Qatar has even more interest in ridding itself of the “kafala” system. Under this system a local citizen or local company (the kafil) must sponsor foreign workers in order for their work visas and residency to be valid. This means that an individual's right to work and residence in the host country is dependent on the employer, rendering millions of workers from South Asia and elsewhere vulnerable to exploitation.
Even though Qatar is in the line of fire, mainly because it is hosting FIFA 2022, other Gulf countries also use this system. In the UAE for example you must have a sponsor to reside in the country and you can change employer (without permission) if you are in, or are going, to a free zone. That wasn’t always the case.
And when I was living there, the employer still took an employee’s passport; if not (as was the case with me since I refused to hand over my passport) the employer takes the employee’s ID card instead. I was also know of one person who had to finish her contract (she was Swedish) before she could leave the country. This happened in September.
In Qatar it can be impossible to change jobs, if the current employer doesn’t allow it. I know one person- a Canadian citizen- to whom that happened. She had to flee the country. This was in 2013.
According to Arab Digest, last month Qatar announced that it had signed 36 worker protection agreements with countries that provide much of its labour force. Reuters commented that this came just weeks before the ILO was to decide whether to investigate it for worker abuse.
The magazine also noted: “The attention concentrated on Qatar, whose labour practices are no more objectionable than those of other Gulf states, may gradually lead to more attention paid to the others.’
Let’s hope that this is the case.