New Qatar sponsorship law under study, says US envoyPublished: Friday, 17 August, 2007, 01:27 AM Doha Time
By Arvind Nair
QATAR is “considering” a new sponsorship law, which would allow employees to change jobs, the outgoing US ambassador has said.
Quoting sources at Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, Chase Untermeyer, who is leaving Doha on Sunday at the end of his three-year tour of duty, said the Qatar government was concerned about the negative references in the US State Department’s seventh annual Trafficking in Persons Report, published on June 12.
The report dealt with the conditions of expatriate workers in the country. The ambassador said the US too was concerned and the report was given to the Qatar Foreign Ministry before it was released in Washington.
It was critical of the recruitment process saying labourers from certain Asian countries were forced to pay money to get work permits. It highlighted the “difficult and dangerous living conditions” here, where many individuals were often crammed into a single room. The report had also quoted several workers as alleging that, on arrival here, they were paid less than what they were promised, and forced to do jobs other than what they were hired for.
In the report, Qatar was placed in the bottom Tier 3 group – those governments that have shown no commitment to meeting international standards.
The group has grown to 16, compared to 12 in the previous year, “due to a lack of effort” by these nations to combat trafficking. Countries new to the Tier 3 group are Algeria, Bahrain, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman besides Qatar.
Untermeyer said Qatar’s anti-trafficking law could come by Ramadan and it could improve the working conditions here.
The government was also considering extending the protection of the labour laws to domestic workers like housemaids, drivers and gardeners, he added.
The ambassador, who would be returning to private business after this one-off diplomatic assignment, said the State Department had given a “good commendation” to Qatar on two other counts — human rights and religious freedom. He said a church would set up in Qatar by next year.
New Qatar sponsorship law under study, says US envoyPublished: Friday, 17 August, 2007, 01:27 AM Doha Time
By Arvind Nair
QATAR is “considering” a new sponsorship law, which would allow employees to change jobs, the outgoing US ambassador has said.
Quoting sources at Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, Chase Untermeyer, who is leaving Doha on Sunday at the end of his three-year tour of duty, said the Qatar government was concerned about the negative references in the US State Department’s seventh annual Trafficking in Persons Report, published on June 12.
The report dealt with the conditions of expatriate workers in the country. The ambassador said the US too was concerned and the report was given to the Qatar Foreign Ministry before it was released in Washington.
It was critical of the recruitment process saying labourers from certain Asian countries were forced to pay money to get work permits. It highlighted the “difficult and dangerous living conditions” here, where many individuals were often crammed into a single room. The report had also quoted several workers as alleging that, on arrival here, they were paid less than what they were promised, and forced to do jobs other than what they were hired for.
In the report, Qatar was placed in the bottom Tier 3 group – those governments that have shown no commitment to meeting international standards.
The group has grown to 16, compared to 12 in the previous year, “due to a lack of effort” by these nations to combat trafficking. Countries new to the Tier 3 group are Algeria, Bahrain, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman besides Qatar.
Untermeyer said Qatar’s anti-trafficking law could come by Ramadan and it could improve the working conditions here.
The government was also considering extending the protection of the labour laws to domestic workers like housemaids, drivers and gardeners, he added.
The ambassador, who would be returning to private business after this one-off diplomatic assignment, said the State Department had given a “good commendation” to Qatar on two other counts — human rights and religious freedom. He said a church would set up in Qatar by next year.