Report: Qatari Labor Reforms "Insufficient"

(ATR) Amnesty International says that the Qatari labor reforms have not done enough.

The human rights watchdog group published a report Wednesday that said that six months after the reforms, results have been "woefully insufficient"

Entitled "No Extra Time: How Qatar is still failing on workers’ rights ahead of the World Cup," the report criticizes Qatar’s reforms and details the only minimal progress that has been made to protect World Cup stadium workers.

"Urgent action is needed to ensure we do not end up with a World Cup tournament that is built on forced labor and exploitation," Elsayed-Ali, head of refugee and migrants’ rights at Amnesty International, said in a statement.

"Despite making repeated promises to clean up its act ahead of the World Cup, the government of Qatar still appears to be dragging its feet over some of the most fundamental changes needed, such as abolishing the exit permit and overhauling its abusive sponsorship system."

The run up to the 2022 World Cup has been plagued with scandal over corruption in FIFA and reports of thousands of deaths of migrant workers during the course of stadium construction.

On Tuesday, Qatari Sports Minister Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali sat down with the AP to discuss what the country was doing to solve the issues of human rights.

Al-Ali said to the AP that more reforms are coming and would be passed in the next few months.

"It is going to be good for not only the laborers in Qatar, but in the whole region, which might upset some people," al-Ali said.

In the report, Amnesty International calls for five major changes from the Qatari government.

The changes include abolishing the exit permit, reduce fees for workers to file suit against employers, an independent investigation into migrant workers deaths, publishing the names of exploitative firms, and granting the legal rights afforded to domestic workers for migrants.

A full copy of the report can be found here.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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