In a report issued on Sunday, February 16, Human Rights Watch (HRW) confirmed that Qatar's efforts to ensure regular payment of workers' full wages in a timely manner “does not meet international standards, talking about loopholes in migrant worker protection systems.”
HRW report revealed that an unnamed employer had delayed the payment of his managers’ wages for five months, and his workers’ wages for two months.
The report highlighted gaps in monitoring by the Ministry of Labor regarding the non-compliance with the payment of wages.
Qatari law prohibits both public protests without a license and union activities.
Michael Page, Middle East deputy director at Human Rights Watch said: “Qatar has passed some laws to protect foreign workers, but it appears that the authorities are rather more interested in promoting these minor reforms in the media than in making it successful”.
Citing seven company executives, HRW report confirmed that 500 managers have not been paid since September 2019, including a group of engineers and supervisors.
On February 13, the majority of the company’s employees received their late wages, while the remainder were expected to receive their wages on the February 16.
HRW also revealed that a joint report issued by the Ministry of Labor and the International Labor Organization in June 2019 stated that “a series of problems in the wage protection system hinder its effectiveness and burden it in many cases”.
“This case of hundreds of delayed wages reaffirms that the wage protection system and the Wage Protection Department are not sufficient to ensure that migrant workers in Qatar receive their salaries in a timely and full manner”, said Page.
Qatar recently cancelled mandatory exit visas for domestic workers as part of efforts to promote foreign workers rights.
On the other hand, Human Rights Watch said that despite the introduction of some labor reforms over the past two years, the Qatari authorities have not abolished the sponsorship system, “which gives employers excessive control over their employees”.
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