In its annual and four-year progress reports, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has commended Qatar’s progress and reforms as “indeed significant for the region.
“We’ve been on a long journey with Qatar – and the reforms and the cooperation with the international community are indeed significant for the region. We all recognize that we are not yet at the finish line, and we will build on this solid foundation to address the gaps in implementation and ensure that all workers and employers can fully benefit from these major reforms” said Ruba Jaradat, ILO Regional Director for the Arab States.
During the past few years, Qatar witnessed massive reforms and changes in many laws, especially in labour. For example, workers in Qatar previously required permission from their sponsors to change their jobs and also to leave the country, making the employees very dependent on their employers. But the Ministry of Labour changed this in 2020 and has approved more than 350,000 applications.
Moreover, in March 2021, Qatar adopted a non-discriminatory minimum wage for all workers, of all nationalities, in all industries, including domestic labour. As a result, 13% of the workforce, or 280,000 workers, had a raise to the new minimum since the new legislation was introduced.
And before recent labour changes, workers had few ways to file employer-related grievances. In recent years, Qatar has taken measures to increase employees’ access to justice by building a new online platform for submitting complaints and new labour courts to adjudicate disputes.
Complaints from workers quadrupled owing to easier online access. MOL received 34,425 worker complaints between October 2021 and October 2022, most of the underpaid pay. Some 66.5% of complaints were before or during conciliation. About 31% of complaints were taken to labour courts, which sided with employees in 84% of cases.
Foreign workers can’t create or join unions in Qatar. Before labour reforms, social discourse and worker representation were limited. The new law created enterprise-level worker-management committees. In addition, the Act provides for elected migrant worker representatives.
Over 70 firms have joint committees, with 613 workers representing 40,000 employees. In addition, dozens more firms have gotten election training.
According to the findings, more has to be done to implement and enforce labour reforms. They add that the ILO’s key goals include ensuring that all workers and employers may benefit from kafala reforms on labour mobility, streamlining access to justice and the recovery of due wages, and completely implementing the domestic workers’ rights law. The ILO will cooperate with the government, employees, and employers to align Qatar’s laws and practises with international labour standards.
International trade unions complained to the ILO in 2014 that Qatar violated international labour rules. This complaint said that the ‘kafala’ or sponsorship system enabled exploitation and forced labour and that the country’s regulatory systems did not detect or resolve labour rights breaches.
The complaint prompted the ILO Governing Body to send a high-level tripartite expedition to Qatar. After long talks, Qatar and the ILO agreed on a programme to make important labour changes. The ILO Governing Body supported the programme, and the complaint procedure was closed in 2017. ILO’s Doha Program Office opened in April 2018. The ILO Doha Office reported for three years.
The reforms support the country’s National Vision 2030, which calls for a competitive, diversified, knowledge-based economy.
