{"id":13825,"date":"2023-10-05T09:18:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T09:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icoca.ch\/?post_type=case_studies&p=13825"},"modified":"2024-01-31T10:51:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T10:51:24","slug":"qatar-sports-and-modern-slavery","status":"publish","type":"case_studies","link":"https:\/\/icoca.ch\/fr\/case-studies\/qatar-sports-and-modern-slavery\/","title":{"rendered":"QATAR: SPORTS AND MODERN SLAVERY"},"content":{"rendered":"

Background <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Qatar is extremely reliant on migrant labour, with about 95% of its workforce being made up of migrant workers. Tens of thousands of individuals are employed in Qatar\u00b4s private security sector, a large part of which is made up by migrant workers.<\/p>\n

Since 2010, when FIFA awarded Qatar the rights to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, there has been increasing attention paid to the treatment of Qatar’s migrant workers. In 2017, following reports of labour abuse and a complaint lodged by workers\u2019 groups at the International Labour Organization (ILO), Qatar signed an agreement with the ILO committing itself to a three-year reform process.<\/p>\n

However, reports reveal that labour abuses and elements of forced labour are still prevalent within various employment sectors in Qatar, including the private security sector. A 2021 United States Trafficking in Persons report alleged that Qatar \u201cdid not routinely investigate crimes such as employer passport retention, withholding of wages, labour violations, and complaints of abuse as potential trafficking crimes.\u201d The report further alleged that authorities actually arrested, detained, and deported potential trafficking victims, noting that existing Qatar judicial processes were inadequate to enforce labour law within the country.<\/p>\n

The Incident <\/strong><\/h2>\n

An Amnesty International research project revealed that private security personnel are subjected to a range of labour abuses, including long working hours, lack of rest days, arbitrary or disproportionate financial penalties, potentially dangerous working conditions, underpayment of overtime work, substandard living conditions, and discrimination on the basis of race, nationality, and language.<\/p>\n

Many security guards interviewed for the research project indicated that they frequently worked up to 12 hours a day, going months or even years without a day off. Often, guards were deployed to work these long hours in intense heat. Living facilities provided by the companies were reported to be overcrowded and unsanitary.<\/p>\n

Additionally, guards interviewed across five security companies told Amnesty International that companies treated employees differently depending on their nationality, race, and working conditions. Most security guards reported earning the minimum basic monthly wage, with some companies not paying overtime according to the rate mandated by law.<\/p>\n

The research project also discovered that elements of forced labour (as defined under the International Labor Organization Convention on Forced Labour) are present in the operations of several private security companies, namely involuntary work and threat of penalty.<\/p>\n

These penalties included deductions of between one-to-thirteen days\u2019 pay. Further, lingering aspects of the Qatari \u201cKafala\u201d sponsorship system means that workers face various risks, including contract termination and deportation, if they challenge their supervisors. This vulnerability essentially forces security guards to be subjected to these extremely poor working conditions, given that the potential penalties for complaining or challenging their supervisors are heavy.<\/p>\n

Finally, private security personnel, particularly migrant workers, are often subject to abusive recruitment practices, passport confiscation, and restrictions on changing jobs.<\/p>\n

For example, many workers need to pay fees to agents during the recruitment process, and most need to borrow money or take out loans to pay these costs. Recruitment agents often promise higher salaries and better working conditions to induce the payment of these fees. Upon arrival in Qatar, the working conditions and pay would often not align with the recruiter\u2019s promises. However, due to the incurred debt and other factors, workers often still want or need to remain with the employer. In another study, 71% of workers reported facing difficulties repaying their loans, citing low salaries, the need to send financial support to their family, and the cost of living in Qatar.<\/p>\n

Guards from several private security companies reported that their employers would confiscate worker\u2019s passports for a specified period of time. Additionally, several security guards reported that there were incidents in which current employers stood in the way of the employee moving to another employer.<\/p>\n

Legal Aspects<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Qatar is party to ILO conventions and other treaties which prohibit forced labour and other human rights abuses. All people working on its territory should receive regular and full payment of wages, rest time, limited hours, and decent working and living conditions.<\/p>\n

The International Code of Conduct <\/strong><\/h3>\n

The International Code of Conduct<\/a> prohibits Member and Affiliate companies from engaging in the trafficking of persons, and requires their personnel to report any instances of trafficking to Competent Authorities (section 39). The International Code of Conduct defines human trafficking, in this context, as the recruitment, harbouring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labour or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purposes of subjection to involuntary servitude, debt bondage, or slavery.<\/p>\n

Resources on Human Trafficking<\/a><\/p>\n

Further, the International Code of Conduct prohibits Member and Affiliate Companies from using slavery, forced or compulsory labour, or to be complicit in any other entity\u00b4s use of such labour (section 40).<\/p>\n

Resources on the Prohibition of Slavery and Forced Labour<\/a><\/p>\n

Companies should hold passports, other travel documents, or other identification documents of their Personnel for the shortest period of time reasonable for administrative processing or other legitimate purposes (section 54)<\/p>\n

The Code prescribes companies to provide their personnel with a safe and healthy working environment (section 64)<\/p>\n

Other rules pertaining to working conditions in the International Code of Conduct for Security Providers (the Code) include:<\/p>\n