Qatar Has Just Made Life Less Terrible for its Army of Foreign Workers

The gas-rich nation has a new labor law, but it still leaves workers very vulnerable.

The gas-rich nation of Qatar, one of the wealthiest countries on the planet, has just passed a law barring employers from forcing domestic workers to work more than 10 hours a day and six days a week.
Sadly, human rights groups consider the new law a win given that Qatar has long subjected domestic workers, almost all of whom are poor migrants, to slave-like conditions.
The law passed Tuesday also states that people working as maids, nannies, cooks, and other domestic staff are entitled to breaks for meals and worship, three weeks of annual leave, and protection from psychological and physical harm. Under the law, domestic workers will have formal contracts with employers and also have a right to an end-of-service bonus. The law will affect between 200,000 and 300,000 workers.
In addition to allowing for long, 60-hour work weeks, the law has other shortcomings. Migrant-Rights.org, a Middle Eastern advocacy organization for migrant workers in the region, pointed out in an analysis of a draft of the law that it doesn’t specify if domestic workers are allowed to leave the house on their day off. Rothna Begum, a women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, told the 

Guardian that the government still needs to “ensure there are strong enforcement mechanisms” for the law. And there’s no indication that domestic workers are exempt from Qatari regulations requiring foreign workers to get permission from their employers to switch jobs or leave the country.
While the law means domestic workers will still be working long hours and remain vulnerable to exploitation, it is a substantial improvement over the status quo. Previously, domestic workers often didn’t work under a formal contract and weren’t able to file complaints with the country’s labor ministry if they were mistreated or abused.

A Guardian investigation in 2014 found that employers regularly subjected domestic workers to “slave-like conditions,” often making them work 100-hour weeks, physically and sexually abusing them, and withholding their wages and passports. The investigation found that hundreds of Filipino workers sought sanctuary from intolerable working conditions by fleeing to their country’s embassy in Qatar.

Qatar has a reputation for exploiting workers — and it wants that to change.
Qatar is also infamous for exploiting migrant construction workers. In the summer of 2013, dozens of Nepalese workers died from heart attacks, heart failure, or workplace accidents, many of them on projects related to the World Cup, which is slated to take place in Doha in 2022.
About 70 percent of Qatar’s population of 2.7 million people are low-skilled workers, almost all of whom are migrants.
Doha’s decision to give domestic workers labor rights is in part a response to international scrutiny. The International Labor Organization, a United Nations body, had given Qatar until November to improve its labor conditions. Had Qatar not complied, it could have been hit by UN sanctions and suffered further damage to its international reputation. The country is already suffering from the impact of a Saudi Arabian-led embargo tied to Qatar’s relationship with Iran and history of supporting terrorist groups in the Middle East.

Written by Zeeshan Aleem 

Vox News, Aug 24, 2017, 8:40am EDT
From <https://www.vox.com/world/2017/8/24/16193206/qatar-foreign-worker-protections>

RESPONSE:

In the more modern days, there seems to be less of a focus on citizens and residents of the country and more on the politics and economics. I think that this is a topic that needs to be looked into more in many countries around the world. Sometimes we tend to box slavery back into the times of American and European slavery in the 18^th and 19^th centuries; sadly, it is still happening today. It might not be as harsh and widespread, but in cases like this in Qatar, working and living conditions can be so bad that people do not have a life that they deserve.  I think this article puts into context the struggles faced by the manual labor force and how the government can be a light in a dark situation like this— making laws to ensure a better quality of life. However, I think this article fails to address how not only the government can help, but how normal people, like you and I can help.

I think that the intended audience for this article is the general public. Majority of the population is definitely concerned about the well-being of people who are in the manual labor force. Since so many people know about Qatar and about the various workforces and products that come from the area, it is significant to people around the world. The writer, Zeeshan Aleem, is a liberal journalist for Vox news and has been a part of other news stations, like BBC News and the Atlantic. He might have a bias towards the Middle East not having good working conditions based on other countries in the Middle East or around the world. In addition, Vox news is a liberal news outlet. This means that they are for the government to make changes that will influence the lives of the people in a more positive way. This will affect the position of the news outlet and the writer on this topic because they are in favor of the government making a stand. There is definitely a bias on part of the reader which will most likely gravitate towards this being a positive move by the government; the improvement of the lives of people living in the country. I think that the goal of the writer is to bring to people’s attention the importance of laws for people who are maybe not so high up in the class of the country; laws that will protect them and give them a life that they are deserving of. I also think that he wants to bring to attention the issue to other countries’ governments to look into laws like this for their own country and see what can be improved for the manual labor force.