Household workers prone to worst forms of exploitation in Qatar

Noura Bendari

Household workers are prone to all types of violations in Qatar, including physical abuse and sexual assault.

Some of the workers are forced to work 18 hours every day non-stop. They are denied their legal rights.

This is only one aspect of the violations the Qatari regime commits against foreign nationals living in Qatar and Qatari nationals themselves.

These violations compound the tough living conditions of these foreign nationals in Qatar as well as the difficulties created by the Covid-19 outbreak in Qatar.

Human violations

Household workers are prone to the worst forms of violations in Qatar, Amnesty International said.

The workers are maltreated, subjected to physical abuse and forced to work in tough conditions, it added in a report it released on October 20.

Amnesty International interviewed 150 foreign household workers in Qatar.

Around 85% of these workers said they are forced to work for 14 hours every day and that they are rarely given any time or day off work.

The workers added that their employers confiscate their travel and identification documents, including their passports, in order to prevent them from leaving or traveling.

Most of the workers said they do not receive their salaries at all and others said they receive these salaries very late every month.

There are 173,000 household workers in Qatar, Amnesty International said. Half of these workers work in private homes, it added.

The organization estimates the number of foreign workers in Qatar at 2 million.

It said most of these workers come from poor countries, such as Bangladesh, Nepal and India.