Could this be true or a pipe dream

No intention to correct you but a pun intended, where we say a Govt, which is run by a family and its aide.

At Genesis: Mis use of powers and blame goes back to expats (other Arab community, who actually runs the mis managed show) and exploit people.

However, all Law makers are well qualified, educated and Intelligent individuals, enough to decide what is Good and bad; this is an out cry of HRW since very long.

The truth is the people with power ( who we call locally "hawameer", plural of " Hamour") are not the only beneficiaries of the current sponsorship law.

In general, I think expatriates here are being exploited by other expatriates.

There are the international companies with local partners Who not only abuse the law for their own benefit , but also shuffle their skilled employees to other locations whenever they receive a better job opportunity locally. There are also construction companies that are owned by local illiterate elders and being managed by expatriates whom are given full power of attorney ( mostly lebanese or other Arab nationals). Finally there is the Early given retirement 40 something " high school educated" local who makes a living of trading the right of sponsorship (e.g: receives compensations over being the sponsor).

In my opinion , All those cases are enough reasons that the current sponsorship law must be amended or completely abolished.

And that includes not only the ruling family but other people who are powerful and whose influence is felt by the ruling family.

par·ty (pärt)

3.

a. A person or group involved in an enterprise; a participant or an accessory: I refuse to be a party to your silly scheme.

(eg., "interested parties" does not refer to Republicans or Democrats.)

You should probably check your own English before correcting others, mate.

you mean Ruling family. I still find difficult to understand the major benefits/ private Interest they hold under such sponsorship laws for foreigners :)

to establish decent wage laws and protect living conditions in accordance with international HR standards. In the long run it would cost way too much, I believe, and as you say private interests would have to be traded off (which could become a problem for the ruling party here.

Scraping the current sponsorship law is in fact beneficial to the goverment sector in many aspects (I.e: taxes/ fees on contracts, hiring locally from the experienced private sector employees,...)

I doubt that the Advisory council members will ever vote positively on this, specially since it's contrary to their own "private" interests ;)

However, Qatar (like all GCC countries) is been pressurized by HRW and eventually must comply.

Be positive and hopeful.......

People and their minds changes faster these days......like Biggest recession of the Century (Dec 2007-2010....), Iran can show eyes to US, Qatar can bid for WC......

UAE removed the 6 months Ban?

Even making a public announcement is a huge step forward for these guys considering the fact that until a few years ago...there was no question about abolishing such a system...this is a HUGE change for them & like all change of this magnitude,it will take time,that's normal...so let's be patient eh?...mind you,this is not going to happen in our lifetime in Qatar...just in case,anyone's getting their hopes up! (:...

It is not just about doing away with local sponsor system. What system will replace it ? What will the workers' rights be ?

Too many unknowns at present.

Kuwait has been planning this for the past 6 years ...

Don't expect it to happen here anytime soon. They need the sponsorship system to make 2022 a reality. Without sponsorship allowing the exploitation of labourers, the cost of planning for the games would be prohibitive, even for Qatar.

Kuwait is probably the worst of all the GCC countries when it comes to workers and abuse.

damn..and i never knew it...AM A SLAVE for them

february 2011

Have they mentioned any time-frame within which they will abolish it?