Foreign workers in Qatar detained without financial entitlements or human rights

Indiana Khaled

The Qatari regime does not hesitate to use any means to cover up its failure at managing the country’s crises, the latest of which has been the outbreak of the corona virus. This led Doha to resort to illegal methods to escape from his international obligations, especially towards foreign workers and their financial and humanitarian rights.

On Wednesday, April 15, Amnesty International documented a complaint by foreign workers that Doha detained scores of laborers and expelled them in March after tricking them by informing them they would undergo an examination to test for the corona virus.

The organization quoted 20 Nepalese workers as saying that the Qatari police arrested hundreds of workers on the street on March 12 and 13 and detained them for several days before they were airlifted to Nepal.

Stephen Cockburn, deputy director of global issues at Amnesty, said that none of the workers they spoke to had received an explanation as to why they had been treated this way, nor could they challenge the detentions or deportations. They were forced to spend days in detention in inhumane conditions, and many were not even allowed the opportunity to collect their luggage before being placed on planes en route to Nepal.

It is a matter of concern that the Qatari authorities appear to be using the pandemic to cover up further violations against migrant workers, many of whom feel that the police misled them by saying they would be examined for the Covid-19 corona virus, Cockburn said in a statement, adding that there is no excuse for arbitrarily detaining people.

Amnesty has made a set of recommendations to the Qatari authorities, including ensuring that any worker detained or threatened with deportation be allowed to appeal, as well as ensuring an effective solution and compensation for violations against worker rights, in addition to providing workers with the “full right to healthcare” during the corona pandemic.

Lost rights

There have also been international fears of the regime in Doha turning a blind eye to migrant workers’ financial rights and payments owed them. In this regard, the Pakistani government requested on Friday, April 17 a guarantee from Qatar regarding payment of all dues owed to Pakistani workers who were expelled from their jobs due to the corona virus.

According to the Pakistani website Research Snipers, this request came during a phone call between Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sayed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari and a Qatari government official. Bukhari urged Qatari companies to settle all dues of laid-off Pakistani workers. He also stressed upon the need to provide them with airline tickets to return to their homes, calling on the Qatari government to provide all support to any Pakistanis stranded there.

Slave testimonies

In their testimonies to Amnesty, some foreign workers said that Qatari police had detained them and told them they would be tested for the corona virus and then sent back to their homes, but the police lied to them, as they were placed on buses and taken to a detention center in the industrial area. Their mobile phones and identification documents were then confiscated, before they were photographed and fingerprinted.

One Nepalese worker said, “The prison was full of people. We were given one piece of bread every day, which was not enough. All the people were fed in a group, with food placed on plastic on the floor.”

Another said, “My hands were handcuffed and I was treated as a criminal. I was taken to my camp to collect my luggage, but how can I collect and pack luggage when my hands are tied?”

Amnesty said that all workers left Qatar without receiving their salaries or end-of-service benefits, which is a particular concern as many have spent huge sums on securing jobs in Qatar and may pay high-interest loans.

A report published by the Business and Human Rights Resources Center in April indicated that foreign workers in Qatar live in crowded labor camps, often in unsanitary conditions, and some of them do not have access to running water. These poor conditions provide the ideal conditions for the virus to spread, the report warned.