Longtime Labor Abuse Accusations Resurface Ahead of Qatar World Cup

Qatar’s preparations to host the FIFA World Cup beginning on November 20 are drawing complaints from labor and human rights activists, who say the authoritarian Islamist government is abusing immigrant workers and arbitrarily detaining homosexuals.

Qatar hired an estimated 30,000 foreign laborers to build its seven World Cup stadiums and associated facilities. Most of the workers came from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and the Philippines.

When 60 migrant workers held a demonstration to complain about unpaid wages in August, the Qatari government arrested hundreds of them, claiming the demonstrators “breached security laws” and “failed to remain peaceful.”

Qatar later deported some of the protesters. Detained workers told international media they were held in cells with no air conditioning despite the sweltering heat because the police said, “if they can strike in hot weather, they can sleep without air conditioning.”

Qatari officials also claimed the company they were demonstrating against, the Al Bandary International Group, is under investigation along with several other firms for failing to pay its workers. The status of that investigation remains uncertain. At the very least, it appears that workers who protest being used as slaves are punished more quickly in Qatar than the companies that refuse to pay them.

The UK Guardian on Sunday offered a roundup of labor experts who said Qatar’s highly touted promises to improve migrant worker policies have not amounted to much in practice. One activist denounced the Qatar World Cup as a “slap in the face of workers.”

For example, Qatar instituted a minimum wage in response to criticism of foreign worker exploitation, but the legal minimum is only 1,000 rials a month, which works out to a bit less than $275. As one Kenyan labor activist bitterly observed, this minimum wage is just high enough to let workers from Asia and Africa know they are being exploited.

Another policy change that simply allowed immigrant workers to change jobs if they are displeased with their current position was quickly rescinded after Qatari corporations complained about it. The “compromise” position is that workers can quit, but only if they obtain written permission from their current employer. The bitter twist to that story is that some of the Guardian’s experts felt this minor bit of freedom had improved the lot of foreign workers somewhat because it gave them a tiny bit of leverage for negotiations.

The labor panel agreed Qatar’s kafala system, which allows large numbers of immigrant workers to seek employment in Gulf Arab states under special permits with travel expenses covered, but makes them virtual property of the companies that “sponsor” their work permits, is still prone to abuse. 

One major systemic problem with kafala in Qatar and other Gulf countries is that workers are effectively exempted from the host country’s labor laws. In Qatar, workers often complain that employers can brutally retaliate against them for criticism or making too many demands, and the victimized workers have no government advocates or legal recourse. 

The few labor laws implemented for kafala workers after Qatar secured the 2022 World Cup are reportedly not enforced very aggressively; one of the Guardian’s panel experts accused the Qatari government of putting on a show just to get through the big sporting event, and predicted once the “eyes of the world” are no longer on the Qataris, they will “just go back to how they were.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report on Monday that accused Qatari police of arbitrarily detaining and abusing members of the LGBTQ community, including “six cases of severe and repeated beatings and five cases of sexual harassment in police custody between 2019 and 2022.”

HRW said security forces “arrested people in public places based solely on their gender expression,” conducted unlawful searches of their phones, and forced them to attend “conversion therapy sessions” as a condition of their release.

Some of the detainees who spoke with HRW reported being verbally and physically abused when they were arrested, with one bisexual woman saying she was beaten until she “lost consciousness.” 

“An officer took me blindfolded by car to another place that felt like a private home from the inside and forced me to watch restrained people getting beaten as an intimidation tactic,” the victim said.

“The repressive climate around free expression in Qatar, including around the rights of LGBT people, has made many people who may have experienced mistreatment afraid to be interviewed because of the risk of retaliation,” HRW noted.

Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, as is heterosexual intercourse outside of marriage. All six of the detainees who discussed their cases with HRW said they were forced to sign pledges to “cease immoral activity.”

Qatar has promised World Cup attendees of every sexual orientation will be allowed, but warned against all “public displays of affection.” FIFA, the world soccer association, has stated that World Cup attendees will be allowed to fly the LGBTQ rainbow flag.

Qatari police on Tuesday halted a demonstration by a British gay activist named Peter Tatchell outside the Qatari national museum. 

Tatchell stood outside the museum wearing a T-shirt that accused Qatar of being “anti-gay” and holding a placard that said “Qatar arrests and subjects LGBTs to conversion.” A squad of five police officers appeared after about an hour, took Tatchell’s placard away, and snapped photos of his passport and other documents, but did not arrest him.