Nepali migrants working in Qatar’s multi-million dollar construction sector are being treated like ‘cattle’, a report released by Amnesty International (AI) on Monday said.

The report, which sheds light on the overall plight of migrant workers as Qatar begins construction of the FIFA World Cup 2022 stadiums, says that Nepalis were working up to 12 hours a day and seven days a week even in Qatar’s searingly hot summer months.

A field-based study conducted by the AI reveals widespread abuse and exploitation of the workers, ranging from non-payment of wages, harsh and dangerous working conditions, and shocking standards of accommodation. Researchers also met dozens of construction workers who were barred from leaving the country for many months by their employers.

It said workers interviewed by the researchers talked of forced labour due to fear of losing everything; threatened with penalty fines, deportation, or loss of income if they did not show up for work even though they were not being paid. Many were forced to silently endure the physical and mental suffering due to mounting debts, it said.

“Please tell me—is there any way to get out of here? ... We are going totally mad,” one Nepali construction worker, unpaid for seven months and prevented from leaving Qatar for three months, told the rights organisation.

AI interviewed 210 migrant workers in the construction sector during two visits to the Gulf country in October 2012 and March 2013. The organisation also engaged with 22 companies involved in construction projects there. It said the researchers held at least 14 meetings with Qatari government representatives, including from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Labour.

In a statement, AI urged the Qatar government to enforce existing labour protection laws—which many employers flout routinely. It also called for an overhaul of the ‘sponsorship’ system, which leaves migrant workers unable to leave the country or change jobs without their employers’ permission. “It is simply inexcusable in one of the richest countries in the world, that so many migrant workers are being ruthlessly exploited, deprived of their pay and left struggling to survive,” said Salil Shetty, the AI Secretary General.

“Construction companies and the Qatari authorities alike are failing migrant workers. Employers in Qatar have displayed an appalling disregard for the basic human rights of migrant workers. Many are taking advantage of a permissive environment and lax enforcement of labour protections to exploit construction workers.”

“The world’s spotlight will continue to shine on Qatar in the run-up to the 2022 World Cup, offering the government a unique chance to demonstrate on a global stage that they are serious about their commitment to human rights and can act as a role model to the rest of the region,” said Shetty. The report also highlighted current practices within the construction industry, in which some managers consider it normal to violate labour standards. Discriminatory attitudes towards migrant workers in Qatar—many of whom come from South or Southeast Asia—are common, it said. AI researchers heard a manager of one construction firm referring to the workers as “the animals.”

Published on: 20 November 2013 | The Kathmandu Post