In Qatar, Nearly Three in Five People Live in ‘Labor Camps’

 In Qatar, Nearly Three in Five People Live in ‘Labor Camps’
Over the past several years, Qatar’s widespread use of migrant labor to build its ever growing queue of building and infrastructure projects has gained the attention and criticism of human rights activists across the globe.

These activists allege Qatar’s migrant laborers, most of whom come from South Asia, live in dirty, dangerous camps and have severely limited civil rights. Some might even argue that the term “indentured workers” or “slave laborers” would be a more accurate description.

While it has been known that a huge population of these migrants reside in Qatar, it wasn’t until a recent census that the truly stunning nature of migrant labor in the Middle Eastern country was known.

According to figures produced by the Qatari government, of its population of 2.4 million, nearly 60 percent, or three in five people, live in migrant labor camps. Other estimates, however, have put the figure much higher.

How did this tiny nation that was home to a mere 370,000 people in the mid-1980s end up with such a population boom in just three decades?
Moreover, how did this boom end up including more migrant laborers than Qatari citizens?
Qatar’s story is not wholly unique for the Middle Eastern region: As in Saudi Arabia, for example, Qatar found itself sitting atop fossil fuel resources worth billions upon billions. After oil prices fully rebounded in the 1990s, Qatar’s energy elites found their bank accounts overflowing.

That’s where the similarities start to fade. As Qatar began to tap the world’s third largest known reserve of natural gas and oil, it gradually surpassed Luxembourg to become home to the world’s highest GDP per capita by 2014.
With all that cash, what can a wealthy Qatar elite class to do? Fund opulent building projects, among other things. This led to the importation of migrant laborers; These people thought they were getting an unique opportunity to work but instead found themselves gravely exploited, sometimes even at the cost of their own lives.

Getting to Qatar as a migrant worker isn’t easy. With the promise of a steady income, these individuals are pushed to pay “recruitment fees” to a Qatari company for the privilege to work for them. Often, migrants cannot afford this and instead take out high-interest loans to pay for it.

After taking these steps, a laborer in Qatar might find himself earning meager wages (though workers are often underpaid, if they are paid at all) and living in an overcrowded, unsanitary camp. These “worker cities” are usually owned and “maintained” (cockroaches and open sewers are typical) by employers.

Many workers say it is not uncommon to end up working 12, even 24-hour days, often with little water or food, if any.

“We feel like we were cheated, we didn’t get the jobs we were expecting,” one Nepali worker says.

What happens if a worker wants to change employers? He must first gain permission from his current employer. And what happens when a migrant wishes to leave Qatar? He must obtain an exit visa — also provided by his employer.
If the employer doesn’t wish to grant those requests for whatever reason (such as unpaid debt from a loan taken out for the recruitment fees), then that worker is essentially trapped in Qatar with that employer.

Those who complain or try to hold an employer accountable could face worse repercussions, ending up not only stuck in Qatar but also unemployed and homeless.

Qatar has faced a great deal of heat over these practices. As the country plans to host the 2022 World Cup, this scrutiny has only increased — at the same time Qatar’s building projects ramp up to accommodate the anticipated tourism influx.

Hundreds of migrant workers have died since construction for the World Cup began. In 2013 alone, 185 Nepali workers perished; Between 2012 and 2014, 450 Indians died. Most deaths were related to heart failure. Exact numbers for other nationalities aren’t known, however activist groups believe around 4,000 laborers will die before the World Cup begins.

Qatar insists it is taking significant steps to make life better for its migrant workers. This claim is lacking substance, though, if the recent tragic labor camp fire in southwest Qatar, which claimed 13 lives, is any indication.

Every nation that intends to vie for the chance to play in the 2022 World Cup has a responsibility to threaten Qatar with boycott if genuine steps to protect the human and civil rights of its many migrant laborers are not taken immediately.