Qatar has adopted important reforms to protect the rights of migrants workers, but weak implementation and ongoing violations reveal inherent problems in the country’s labour system. Recent reports by human rights groups point to persistent exploitation of workers as well as other human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention and deportation. Abuses and Exploitation of Migrant […]
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With more than 17,000 cases of Covid-19, Qatar has the highest infection rate in the Gulf. Most cases concern migrant workers, who make up 95 percent of the country’s workforce. Since 2010, in preparation for the 2022 World Cup, there has been an important increase in the numbers of migrant workers, in particular in sectors […]
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Last updated: January 2016
Qatar Immigration Detention Profile
The State of Qatar has been under intense scrutiny since it was selected by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to host the 2022 World Cup games. The international spotlight has brought widespread attention to the abuses that foreign workers face in the country. Despite official promises of reform, observers argue that little has changed for most of the country’s 1.5 million migrant labourers.[1]
Foreigners, described as “expatriates” in Qatari immigration law, account for 90 percent of the country’s population of 2.2 million. The migrant population experienced a record surge in 2014, increasing by a record 10 percent, driven in part by a spike in labour needs related to World Cup preparations.[2]
Central to the challenges facing foreigners in Qatar is the country’s Sponsorship Law, which ties foreign workers to their employers. The kafala (“sponsor”) system has been harshly criticized for enabling the mistreatment of workers. The law also specifically provides for immigration detention measures and thousands of people have been detained in recent years, sometimes for periods lasting more than a year.[3] In one well known case, a Nepali worker languished for 17 months in a detention centre as the Ministry of Interior failed to secure his departure formalities because he was under a travel ban stemming from problems with his previous sponsor. He was only released and allowed to board a flight back to Nepal after the intervention of human rights groups.[4]
Responding to pressure to reform its kafala system, the country announced in May 2014 that it intended to abolish its sponsorship scheme and replace it with a system based on labour contracts.[5] In October 2015, the country announced that it had adopted reforms as part of its new sponsorship law (Law No. 21 of 2015). According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), although the new law refers to “recruiters” instead of “sponsors” it still requires “low-paid migrant workers to get their employer’s permission to change jobs or to leave the country” and thus “prevents workers from leaving abusive employers.”[6]
Recent press reports and investigations by human rights groups have highlighted a range of problems associated with Qatar’s labour practices, including: large numbers of deaths at construction sites since the country won the World Cup bid[7]; protection gaps in the recruitment process (including charging fees of workers and misrepresentation of working hours and conditions); passport confiscation and failure to issue workers with residence permits; forced labour; and the failure to issue exit visas for workers wishing to leave.[8]
Some of these reports have mentioned issues related to detention and deportation, depicting a systemic pattern showing that migrant workers are mostly at risk of detention as a result of problems related to their working conditions. Migrants flee abusive conditions; employers report them as “absconders,” which turns them into illegal residents; they are arrested, sentenced to prison terms, and then kept in detention until deported.[9]
Qatar has also received considerable attention recently from international organisations. In November of 2013, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants visited Qatar, his first visit to a Gulf country. The rapporteur’s mission report, in addition to highlighting some of the structural problems of the sponsorship scheme and abusive work conditions, devoted an entire section to detention and included the Special Rapporteur’s observations based on his visit to a detention centre.[10]
Like its Gulf neighbours, Qatar is politically restrictive and lacks transparency. However, it has sought to burnish its international reputation by being more open to visits from rights actors and non-governmental organizations, a trend that has been reinforced since Qatar’s selection to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup games. As a result, some information about immigration-related detention has also come to light.
Nevertheless, Qatar has strong censorship practices that make researchers and journalists vulnerable to arrest. In May 2015, for example, authorities arrested and detained a BBC team—who had been invited to Qatar by the Prime Minister’s office—for reporting on World Cup labourers. In September 2014, two British researchers commissioned by a Norwegian non-governmental organization to carry out research on migrants labour issues were held incommunicado for six days. Following an international media and civil society outcry, the Qatari authorities acknowledged holding the men in custody and subsequently released them.[11]
In an effort to develop a profile of Qatari immigration detention practices, the Global Detention Project (GDP) interviewed representatives of the UN Office of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants, human rights researchers, worker’s rights activists, as well as an expatriate worker who had been deported from Qatar. The GDP also requested interviews with the Qatar National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), the Qatar Foundation to Combat Human Trafficking (FCHT), and various sending country embassies. The NHRC and FCHT never responded to our requests while the embassies expressed reluctance to provide information.
Laws, Policies, and Practices
Qatar is a constitutional monarchy with hereditary rule by males in the emir’s branch of the Al Thani family, which has ruled since 1868. Article 36 of the 2004 Constitution provides: “Personal freedom shall be guaranteed and no person may be arrested, detained, searched, neither may his freedom of residence and mobility be restricted save under the provisions of the law; and no person may be subjected to torture, or any degrading treatment; and torture shall be considered a crime punishable by law.”
Grounds for detention and deportation. The legal framework governing immigration-related detention in Qatar is provided in “Law No. 4 of 2009, Regulating the Entry and Exit of Expatriates in Qatar and Their Residence and Sponsorship” (the “Sponsorship Law of 2009”). Like other Gulf countries, immigration-related detention includes both criminal and administrative forms of deprivation of liberty. Administrative immigration detention is linked to deportation. The only explicit reference to administrative immigration-related detention provided in Qatari law is found in Chapter Five of the law, “Deportation and the Order to Leave the State.” Article 38 authorizes the Interior Minister to arrest/detain an expatriate who has been ordered exiled or deported for thirty days, “renewable or several similar periods.”[12]
The Sponsorship Law provides a number of grounds for deportation of foreigners from Qatar. Article 37 provides for the deportation of any expatriate whose presence in Qatar poses a threat to national security or may damage the national economy or public health or morals.
As detailed below in the section on “Criminalisation,” there are additional provisions in the Sponsorship Law that penalise certain immigration violations with incarceration.
Criminalisation. The 2009 Sponsorship Law provides criminal sanctions for violations of status-related provisions, which are enumerated in Chapter Seven of the law. Article 51 provides that a person may be fined up to 50,000 Qatari Riyals (approximately $13,700 U.S.) and/or jailed for up to three years for violations of: Article 2 (not holding valid passport/travel document and/or visa to enter Qatar); Article 3 (failure to enter/exit the country through authorized ports of entry/exit); Article 10 (2) (remaining in Qatar beyond visa validity or failing to obtain a residence permit); Article 11 (staying in Qatar in breach of purpose for which one originally entered, and/or failing to leave when business is completed); Article 39 (2) (failure to comply with a deportation order/order to surrender); and Article 48 (violating purpose of residence permit).
Employers and sponsors often retain workers’ passports and fail to provide them with a valid Qatar ID, which makes migrant workers vulnerable to charges of illegal residence or not holding valid ID. One human rights researcher told the GDP that a common ground for detention is Article 11 of the Sponsorship Law, which stipulates that expatriates must not breach the purpose for which they were granted residence. The researcher added that another important ground is Article 37, allowing for detention and deportation of those deemed to be a threat to the state, which is often applied against workers who have absconded (as they may “damage the national economy or public health or morals”).[13]
A worker’s rights activist also interviewed indicated that fear of detention is commonly expressed among migrants who are almost “exclusively detained for charges of having an expired ID card of residency permit, or for ‘absconding.’ The authorities frequently check the validity of ID cards of certain categories of workers (primarily in the construction and service industry) to ensure they are not ‘illegally residing in Qatar.’ Although it is the legal responsibility of the employer to obtain the residency permit of a worker and to renew it (and in fact the worker cannot do so himself), it is the employee who is fined 10 Qatari Riyals per day for overstaying and he is the one who is punished. When workers leave one sponsor to work elsewhere (usually because they are offered a higher wage, or they are being exploited by the current sponsor), the initial employer may not agree to let them join a different company. If the workers leave without permission, the initial employer would classify them as ‘runaways’ or ‘absconders’ and the authorities are allowed to detain and/ or arrest them for working with a different employer.” [14]
Length of detention. Article 38 of the 2009 Sponsorship Law provides for the arrest and 30-day detention of an expatriate who has been ordered deported. This can be renewed as often as deemed necessary. There is thus no time limit placed on this form of administrative detention. An Amnesty International (AI) researcher was told by officials that the normal length of detention in the deportation centre is seven to ten days.[15] However, according to the UN Special Rapporteur, detention can last up to a year.[16]
The rapporteur told the GDP that the length of detention was variable, depending on how the sponsor chooses to deal with the situation. During his visit, he was informed of numerous cases where detention was approaching the one-year mark, and reasons for delay typically had to do with either the sponsor’s refusal to grant an exit visa or sign a “no objection certificate” to the migrant’s departure from Qatar.[17]
Non-custodial measures (“alternatives to detention”). Article 39 states that if a deportation order has not been executed the Minister may “force the Expatriate to reside in a specific area for two renewable weeks in lieu of arresting him for a period or other similar periods. Accordingly, the expatriate has to surrender himself to the security department of the same area on the dates provided in the issued order until exiling or deporting him.” However, the GDP has not come across information about implementation of this provision.
During his 2013 visit, the Special Rapporteur found that “a large number of detainees” wished to return to their home countries and thus there was little risk of their absconding from removal proceedings. In these cases, he concluded, “detention is not necessary and thus a violation of that person’s rights.” In his report, the rapporteur recommended “Qatari authorities to systematically rely on non-custodial measures rather than detention. An individual assessment of the necessity of detention should be undertaken in all cases, in accordance with international human rights standards, and non-custodial measures should always be considered before detention.”[18]
According to the rapporteur, additional alternative measures include housing in shelters. “The Special Rapporteur was informed that some migrants asked to be kept in the deportation centre because they had no place to live. Keeping such people in a shelter would not only be much cheaper than detaining them, but would also better respect the human rights and dignity of those concerned. … The capacity in such shelters should be expanded and new shelters should be established for all migrants in difficult situations, men, women and children.”[19]
Procedural standards, challenging detention. According to informants, there is little possibility of challenging detention or deportation orders. This is due both to the restrictive nature of the sponsorship scheme and the fact that procedures to obtain relief from detention/deportation are not readily available to migrants. There is also no legal aid and significant language barriers. According to AI, it found only 50 successful cases in which deportation orders were challenged (out of thousands).[20]
One activist told the GDP that he has seen many cases where workers have filed labour complaints, which are sometimes referred to the Ministry of Justice, but that more often than not, he has seen that workers appear and sponsors do not. However, instead of deciding in favour of the worker, the case gets rescheduled and can drag on for months, until the worker decides to give up.[21]
In his report, the UN expert reported: “The Special Rapporteur is concerned that detainees have limited ability to contact their families, limited access to legal assistance or consular services and virtually no professional interpretation services. Access to a phone was not guaranteed for those who did not have money to pay for the pay phone and mobile phones were confiscated. The detainees therefore had difficult access to the outside world and little knowledge about complaint mechanisms and how to challenge their detention. The detainees reported that there was no way for them to make complaints about their detention or the conditions in detention. Some of them had spent several months in the deportation centre and lacked information about their situation, not knowing why they were there or what would happen to them. In general, the detainees that the Special Rapporteur met had little or no information in a language they could understand about the reasons for their detention or its duration and little or no consular access or means of challenging their detention and/or deportation.”[22]
Asylum seekers. Qatar is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol and there is no domestic legislation explicitly providing for the granting of asylum or refugee status. According to statistics maintained by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, a very small number of individuals are registered with their office as refugees and/or asylum seekers in Qatar.
Trafficked persons. Qatar enacted comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation, Law No. 15, in October 2011. The law prohibits all forms of trafficking and prescribes penalties including fines (the equivalent of $82,000) and imprisonment of up to 15 years. Under Article 9 of the 2009 Sponsorship law, employers are to return a worker’s passport to him/her upon completion of procedures to obtain a residency permit, however, as will be discussed below, the majority of employers fail to comply with this provision.
The country operates an official shelter for women and children, providing access to medical and psycho-social care, repatriation assistance, and legal aid to trafficking victims.
However, according to the 2013 U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report), despite making some efforts, the government of Qatar does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Implementation of the law remains a serious issue, and trafficking offenses are under prosecuted.
According to the TIP Report, several factors—including employers’ retention of workers’ passports, recruitment fees paid by workers in home countries, and the non-payment of wages—demonstrate that trafficking is a serious concern in Qatar that has not been adequately addressed.
Minors. The office of the UN Special Rapporteur informed the GDP that children and migrant women who become pregnant outside of marriage are imprisoned because extra-marital relationships are criminalized (many Gulf countries, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, apply similar measures). Some of the women are reportedly detained with their children at the country’s dedicated immigration detention facility.[23]
Commenting on the detention of children and pregnant women in Qatar, the UN expert said in his report: “There were several pregnant women in the deportation centre during the visit of the Special Rapporteur. The Special Rapporteur deeply regrets this practice. The authorities should either facilitate their return to their countries, or house them in shelters. Similarly, children should never find themselves in detention: migrant women with children should always be hosted in shelters. While there were no children in the deportation centre during his visit, the Special Rapporteur was informed by several sources that women with small children are routinely kept in the deportation centre and he was told that approximately 10 women with children had been removed from the centre the day preceding his visit.”[24]
Access to detainees. Based on numerous conversations with sources in Qatar, it seems clear that there are mechanisms in place that enable access to people held in immigration detention. Embassy representatives are granted access to their nationals. Also, the country’s deportation facility has regular visiting hours. However, because this facility is located outside the urban centre and there is no nearby public transportation, it is difficult for family members to visit. Both the UN Special Rapporteur and AI told the GDP that their visits to the detention centre were facilitated by the Qatari National Commission for Human Rights. Journalists and researchers wishing to visit the facility can seek permission from the Ministry of Interior.
Access to information. Although the Qatari authorities have been relatively open to visits by foreign delegations wishing to research migrant worker issues, access to detailed information and statistics remains a significant problem. For instance, authorities do not provides statistics on the numbers of migrants detained and deported. The UN Special Rapporteur informed the GDP that one official in the Ministry of Interior claimed that statistics were not kept.[25] AI stated that only when pressed did one official in the Ministry of Interior provide him with some numbers.[26]
The GDP’s requests for information and statistics from governmental and other official bodies like the NHRC and the FCHT were ignored.
Detention monitoring. Both the Human Rights Department of the Ministry of Interior and the NHRC are mandated to visit sites of detention and the Committee has investigated conditions at the country’s sole specialised immigration detention facility in Doha. The regularity of these monitoring efforts is unclear, however, as the Committee did not grant the GDP an interview. According to its 2014 annual report, “The deportation centre is extremely crowded, which affects hygiene and safety standards. The NHRC was informed of a tragic incident whereby a fire started in the prison in September 2014, which results in the death of 5 prisoners. The Ministry of Interior announced the incident the following day. The crowdedness also creates a hostile and tense atmosphere among the detainees, according to testimonies from a group of workers who were released after being detained in the prison.”
In his report on Qatar after visiting the country in 2013, the UN Special Rapporteur highlighted the committee's limitations: “Despite its good will and awareness of the issues, the National Human Rights Committee has limited means and cannot take any decisions, only transfer the complaint to the relevant ministry. The Ministry of Labour can only mediate and if the employer does not agree, the worker has to file a case with the court. Migrants find the division of competencies between the Committee and the Ministries of Labour and Interior confusing." He added: “The Special Rapporteur notes as positive the visits to the deportation centre by the National Human Rights Committee and the Human Rights Department of the Ministry of Interior. However, he believes it is important for Qatar to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and establish an independent national preventive mechanism tasked with undertaking regular unannounced visits to all places of deprivation of liberty in Qatar.”
Foreign workers. Qatar has one of the highest proportions of migrants of any country in the world, who comprise more than 90 percent of its workforce. Considerable international attention has been focused on the abusive conditions faced by foreigner workers in the country since Qatar was selected to host 2022 World Cup.
The main law governing foreign workers in Qatar is the 2009 Sponsorship Law. The law provides that each expatriate granted an entry visa to Qatar must have a sponsor. The foreign worker is then tied to that specific employer, unless, as required by Article 22 of the 2009 Sponsorship Law, the sponsorship is transferred to a new employer by a written agreement between the current/former and new employer, and approved by the Ministry of Labour. Furthermore, Article 26 requires that the sponsor sign the exit permit of a worker before he/she can leave the country.
According to the 2013 U.S. State Department’s TIP Report, though many workers “voluntarily migrate to Qatar as low-skilled labourers and domestic servants … many subsequently face involuntary servitude. According to Qatar University’s Social and Economic Survey Research Institute, a November 2012 study found that 86 percent of expatriate workers surrendered their passports to employers. There are also reports of widespread non-payment of wages. Female domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to trafficking due to their isolation in private residences and lack of protection under Qatari labour laws. Many migrant workers arriving for work in Qatar have paid exorbitant fees to recruiters in their home countries—a practice that makes workers highly vulnerable to forced labour once in Qatar. Moreover, Qatar’s sponsorship system binds foreign workers to their designated employers, placing a significant amount of power in the hands of employers; because of this, when workers face abuse, they often avoid legal action because of the lengthy recourse process, fear of reprisal, or lack of knowledge of their legal rights.”[27]
According to the UN Special Rapporteur: “Sponsors are empowered by the Sponsorship Law to prevent migrants from changing employers and from leaving Qatar. The kafala system enables unscrupulous employers to exploit employees. Frequent cases of abuse against migrants include the confiscation of passports, refusal to give “no objection” certificates (allowing migrants to change employer) or exit permits and refusal to pay migrants’ plane tickets to return home. Some employers do not extend residence permits for their employees, often because of the fees incurred. This leads to migrants ending up in an irregular situation, with no valid identity card, despite the fact that they are regularly employed.[28]
In October 2015, the country announced that it had adopted reforms as part of its new sponsorship law (Law No. 21 of 2015). According to HRW, although the new law refers to “recruiters” instead of “sponsors” it still requires “low-paid migrant workers to get their employer’s permission to change jobs or to leave the country” and thus “prevents workers from leaving abusive employers.”[29]
Adherence to international norms. Qatar has not ratified the main international human rights treaties that have provisions relevant to immigration detention and procedural safeguards for detainees (including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families).
On the other hand, Qatar has ratified the Convention against Torture. During examination of a report by Qatar in 2012, the UN Committee on Torture, which oversees member states’ implementation of the treaty, recommended that Qatar should “ensure that all detainees, including non-citizens, are afforded, in practice, all fundamental legal safeguards from the very outset of detention, including the rights to promptly receive independent legal assistance and a medical examination by an independent doctor, contact relatives, and appear before a judge within a time limit in accordance with international standards.” It also recommended that it “ensure that fully independent monitoring of all places used for deprivation of liberty, including the deportation detention centre” and encouraged it to “accept monitoring of places of detention by non-governmental organizations and relevant international mechanisms.”[30]
In 2007, after her visit to Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar, the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons also made relevant recommendations to all three states to ensure that “Migrant workers in detention centres be informed of the reasons of their arrest in a language they understand, be provided with legal assistance if requested, be allowed to make a local or international phone call and have access to their embassies” and that “Screening and identification procedures of trafficked persons in detention centres be systematic. Alternative arrangements, other than deportation or detention centres, should be considered to safely house identified trafficked persons.[31]
In 2014, ahead of elections of members to the UN Human Rights Council, Qatar pledged to consider “mechanisms to govern the working conditions of domestic workers and reviewing the law on the entry, exit, residence and sponsorship (kafala) of migrants and the labour law with a view to their development.”[32]
Detention Infrastructure
Qatar appears to operate one dedicated immigration detention facility, commonly referred to as the Deportation Detention Centre, which is located in Doha. The facility is administered by the Search and Follow-up Department of the Ministry of Interior.[33] It is located in the industrial area outside the city centre, on Salwa Road, and consists of one-story blocks that contain accommodation and dining quarters. Men and women are segregated.
Non-citizens arrested for criminal offenses or convictions, which can include immigration violations, are held at the central prison in Doha. Migrants are additionally held in police stations, but police custody is usually short-term, anywhere from a few hours to 48 hours, before the person is transferred to another facility (or a shelter in the case of domestic workers who are reporting abuse).
In addition to these facilities, the government runs a shelter for trafficking victims. The Special Rapporteur visited the shelter, and during the time of the visit, fifteen women were staying there after alleging that they had been raped by their employers. In contrast to similar shelters in Kuwait, which reportedly operate as de facto detention centres, the Qatar shelter is non-secure, allowing women to leave at their will. However, the Rapporteur was informed that most women do not leave the premises because they lack documents and fear being arrested.[34]
A researcher for AI visited the deportation centre in 2012 and 2013. He was told that there were roughly 1,000-1,200 men and 250-400 women in the centre during his visits, but that numbers fluctuate month to month, depending on the availability of flights to sending countries. He said that during Ramadan and summer months, the numbers of detainees increase. In terms of nationalities, among males, Nepalis constituted the single largest group of detainees, followed by Indians and Bangladeshis. Among women, the largest numbers were from the Philippines and Indonesia. An interior ministry official also told him that on average,12,000 migrants are deported from Qatar annually.[35]
When asked if detention was a “common concern” among workers interviewed, the AI researcher said: “it is difficult to answer, but certainly in cases where groups of migrant workers are facing serious problems (e.g. lacking residence permits, companies denying exit permits, long periods without pay), or where workers are fighting lengthy court cases, workers have been very aware of the possibly of being detained. And we have come across various cases of workers being detained and struggling to be released.”[36]
Another activist told the GDP that if the authorities truly wanted to crack down on all instances of sponsorship law violation, the scale of immigration detention in the country would be much larger. This person added that large scale detention and deportation would cost the government too much money, and defeats the purpose of having a large, pliant workforce that is afraid of detention and deportation and therefore less likely to report violations of their rights.[37]
The UN expert who also visited the main deportation centre during his November 2013 visit to Qatar provided similar statistics on the numbers detained. According to the Rapporteur, 1,050 men were present at that time of his visit and 300 women. The males were primarily from Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and the women were mostly Indonesian or Filipina. He also reported that authorities in Qatar were not forthcoming regarding statistics, claiming that they do not keep them.[38]
Conditions of detention. Some recent reports concerning the state of Qatar’s prisons indicate that they generally meet basic standards although overcrowding appears to be a recurring problem, including at the dedicated deportation centre in Doha, which the NHRC has recommend expanding. According to the U.S. State Department, during 2014, “prisons and detention centers generally provided clean sanitation facilities, potable water, and access to adequate medical care.” However, the UN Special Rapporteur found the country’s dedicated immigration detention centre “to be overcrowded and unsanitary.” According to the rapporteur’s report, “Some migrants who had been both in the central prison and the deportation centre, stated that the deportation centre had the worst detention conditions, a remark that fits with an unfortunate pattern of treating migrants with little respect for their dignity.”[39]
According to information the GDP has received, the Doha detention centre appears to have regular visiting days and hours for family and friends, and embassy representatives and lawyers are reportedly able to visit it any day. The AI researcher who visited the facility said that he was unable to assess the overall conditions of the facility but that detainees complained about the quality and adequacy of food and adequacy of time spent outdoors. One of the more disconcerting aspects of his visit was that detainees were not fully aware of the reasons for their detention and did not know what steps they could take to apply for release or return to their countries. Part of the challenge for detainees is that communication with the outside world is very limited (mobile phones are banned in the centre and are taken away from detainees and there appear to be regular problems with landlines in the centre, plus phone cards are expensive). The researcher also told the GDP that that there were women detained at the facility who were pregnant or with small children,[40] a problem also highlighted by the UN Special Rapporteur during his visit in 2014.[41]
According to the UN Special Rapporteur, there was serious overcrowding at the facility. Qatari officials told him that they were building a new ward at the facility to accommodate up to 500 women. The rapporteur noted a litany of other problems at the facility, including unsanitary toilets, insufficient bedding, limited access to legal assistance and consular services, no professional interpretation services, no change of clothes, shortage of basic hygienic products, lack of access to outside world, no public transportation to enable visits by family members, and inadequate access to phones.[42]
The UN Special Rapporteur also highlighted deficiencies in medical treatment: “Several of the migrants the Special Rapporteur met reported different health conditions, both physical and mental, but they had not had adequate medical attention. One housemaid had been beaten and burned by her employer before running away. Another had injured her leg in an accident. One ran away after an attempted rape. Access to a doctor was difficult, with no proper treatment given. The detainees reported that the only medication given was aspirin, regardless of their illness. The Special Rapporteur heard stories of pregnant women in detention not receiving prenatal care, including one who had miscarried inside the deportation centre. It was also reported to the Special Rapporteur that mentally ill persons had been kept in the deportation centre, with no adequate treatment.”[43]
[1] Amnesty International, “Promising little, delivering less,” May 2015, http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/qatar_may_2015_briefing_formatted_final_version.pdf.
[2] Le Figaro, “La population du Qatar a augmenté de 10%,” 4 February 2015, http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-eco/2015/02/04/97002-20150204FILWWW00173-la-population-du-qatar-a-augmente-de-10.php.
[3] Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, Mission to Qatar, Twenty-sixth Session, 23 April 2014, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/SRMigrants/A-HRC-26-35-Add1_en.pdf.
[4] Migrant-Rights.org, “Trapped Nepali Worker Leaves Qatar after 13 Years; Systemic Issues Still Cause for Concern,” 19 October 2014, http://www.migrant-rights.org/2014/10/trapped-nepali-worker-leaves-qatar-after-13-years-systemic-issues-still-cause-for-concern-2/.
[5] AFP, “Qatar to end sponsorship system for foreign workers,” AFP, 14 May 2014.
[6] Human Rights Watch, “Qatar: New Reforms Won’t Protect Migrant Workers,” 8 November 2015, https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/11/08/qatar-new-reforms-wont-protect-migrant-workers.
[7] Owen Gibson, “Qatar government admits almost 1,000 fatalities among migrant workers,” The Guardian, 14 May 2014.
[8] Human Rights Watch, “Building a Better World Cup: Protecting Migrant Workers in Qatar Ahead of FIFA 2022,” June 2012, http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/qatar0612webwcover_0.pdf; Amnesty International, “The Dark Side of Migration: Spotlight on Qatar’s Construction Sector Ahead of the World Cup,” November 2013, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE22/010/2013/en/ca15040d-290e-4292-8616-d7f845beed7e/mde220102013en.pdf.
[9] Andrew Gardner, Silvia Pessoa, Laura Harkness, “Labour migrants and access to justice in contemporary Qatar,” London School of Economics and Political Science Middle East Centre, November 2014, http://www.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/publications/Reports/LabourMigrantsQatarEnglish.pdf.
[10] Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, Mission to Qatar, Twenty-sixth Session, 23 April 2014, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/SRMigrants/A-HRC-26-35-Add1_en.pdf.
[11] Mark Lobel, “Arrested for reporting on Qatar’s World Cup labourers,” BBC, 18 May 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32775563; Global Network for Rights and Development, “Qatar’s detention of BBC journalists part of a pattern: GNRD,” GNRD News, 19 May 2015, http://www.gnrd.net/seemore.php?id=1615.
[12] Hala Al Hali, Workers Rights Book, National Human Rights Committee, June 2009.
[13] James Lynch, Amnesty International Researcher (United Kingdom), Email exchange with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland, 3 February 2014.
[14] Aakash Jayaprakash, activist (Doha), Email exchange with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland, 30 January 2014.
[15] James Lynch, Amnesty International Researcher (United Kingdom), Email exchange with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland, 3 February 2014.
[16] Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, Mission to Qatar, Twenty-sixth Session, 23 April 2014, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/SRMigrants/A-HRC-26-35-Add1_en.pdf.
[17] Francois Crepeau, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants (Geneva, Switzerland), Skype interview with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland, 20 January 2014.
[18] Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, Mission to Qatar, Twenty-sixth Session, 23 April 2014, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/SRMigrants/A-HRC-26-35-Add1_en.pdf.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Amnesty International, “The Dark Side of Migration: Spotlight on Qatar’s Construction Sector Ahead of the World Cup,” November 2013, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE22/010/2013/en/ca15040d-290e-4292-8616-d7f845beed7e/mde220102013en.pdf.
[21] Undisclosed source (Activist-Doha), Interview with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland, 14 December 2013.
[22] Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, Mission to Qatar, Twenty-sixth Session, 23 April 2014, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/SRMigrants/A-HRC-26-35-Add1_en.pdf.
[23] Christel Mobech, Office of UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants (Geneva, Switzerland), Skype Interview with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland, 21 January 2014.
[24] Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, Mission to Qatar, Twenty-sixth Session, 23 April 2014, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/SRMigrants/A-HRC-26-35-Add1_en.pdf.
[25] Francois Crepeau, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants (Geneva, Switzerland), Skype interview with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland, 20 January 2014.
[26] James Lynch, Amnesty International Researcher (United Kingdom), Skype interview with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland, 23 December 2013.
[27] U.S. State Department, 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report – Qatar, 19 June 2013.
[28] Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, Mission to Qatar, Twenty-sixth Session, 23 April 2014. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/SRMigrants/A-HRC-26-35-Add1_en.pdf.
[29] Human Rights Watch, “Qatar: New Reforms Won’t Protect Migrant Workers,” 8 November 2015, https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/11/08/qatar-new-reforms-wont-protect-migrant-workers.
[30] Committee against Torture, “Concluding Observations on the 2nd Periodic Report of Qatar, Adopted by the Committee At Its 49th Session, 29 October-23 November 2012,“ United Nations, CAT/C/QAT/CO/2, 25 January 2013, http://uhri.ohchr.org/document/index/25564306-801e-4693-9e10-52ecd7a190eb.
[31] Human Rights Council, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, (Ms. Sigma Huda): Mission To Bahrain, Oman And Qatar,” A/HRC/4/23/Add.2, 25 April 2007, http://uhri.ohchr.org/document/index/5ee3feb8-7cf9-47c7-87dc-f91ee8e53f50.
[32] Human Rights Council, Letter dated 16 September 2014 from the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations addressed to the President of the General Assembly, A/69/403, 24 September 2014, http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/69/403.
[33] Andrew Gardner, Silvia Pessoa, Laura Harkness, “Labour migrants and access to justice in contemporary Qatar,” London School of Economics and Political Science Middle East Centre, November 2014, http://www.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/publications/Reports/LabourMigrantsQatarEnglish.pdf.
[34] Christel Mobech, Office of UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants (Geneva, Switzerland), Skype Interview with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland, 21 January 2014.
[35] James Lynch, Amnesty International Researcher (United Kingdom), Skype interview with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland, 23 December 2013.
[36] James Lynch, Amnesty International Researcher (United Kingdom), Email exchange with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland, 3 February 2014.
[37] Undisclosed source (Activist-Doha), Interview with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland, 14 December 2013.
[38] Francois Crepeau, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants (Geneva, Switzerland), Skype interview with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland, 20 January 2014.
[39] Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, Mission to Qatar, Twenty-sixth Session, 23 April 2014, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/SRMigrants/A-HRC-26-35-Add1_en.pdf.
[40] James Lynch, Amnesty International Researcher (United Kingdom), Email exchange with Parastou Hassouri (Global Detention Project), Geneva, Switzerland. 3 February 2014.
[41] Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, Mission to Qatar, Twenty-sixth Session, 23 April 2014, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/SRMigrants/A-HRC-26-35-Add1_en.pdf.
[42] Ibid.
[43] Ibid.
DETENTION STATISTICS
DETAINEE DATA
DETENTION CAPACITY
ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION
ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA
PRISON DATA
POPULATION DATA
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA & POLLS
LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
Detention-Related Legislation
Law No. 4 of 2009 Regulating the Entry and Exit of Expatriates in Qatar and their Residence and Sponsorship.
(2009)
Law No. 21 of 2015 regulating the entry and exit of expatriates and their residence.
(2015)
2020
Additional Legislation
GROUNDS FOR DETENTION
Mandatory Detention
LENGTH OF DETENTION
DETENTION INSTITUTIONS
Custodial Authorities
The Capital Security Department/ General Directorate of Public Security
(The Ministry of the Interior)
Interior or Home Affairs
PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS
Procedural Standards
Types of Non-Custodial Measures (ATDs) Provided in Law
COSTS & OUTSOURCING
COVID-19 DATA
TRANSPARENCY
Global Detention Project/Partner Access to Information Requests/Results
2022
General Directorate of Civil Defence - Administrative Affairs Department (Ministry of Interior)
Pending
MONITORING
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING BODIES
NHRI Monitoring Reports
NHRC Annual Report, "Human Rights Situation in Qatar"
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISMS (OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE)
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOs)
GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING BODIES
INTERNATIONAL DETENTION MONITORING
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES & TREATY BODIES
International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2009
2009
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
2000
2000
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 9/19
Treaty Reservations
Reservation Year
Observation Date
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
40.The Committee takes note of the information provided by the State party that Act No. 11 of 2018 concerning political asylum is in its first experimental phase of implementation and that the results and data emerging from that implementation will determine to what extent it needs to be amended or improved. However, the Committee remains concerned that article 8 of that Act stipulates that asylum-seekers whose asylum claims are rejected can appeal to the prime minister but not before a court, that article 11 prohibits asylum-seekers and refugees from engaging in political activity while residing in Qatar and that article 10 requires refugees to seek approval if they want to move from their government-assigned place of residence, which restricts their right to liberty of movement and residence (arts. 5 and 6).
41. In the light of its general recommendation No. 22 (1996) on refugees and displaced persons in the context of article 5 of the Convention , and r ecalling its previous concluding observations, t he Committee recommends that the State party amend the provisions of Act No. 11 of 2018 that prohibit asylum - seekers and refugees from engaging in political activity and that restrict the right of asylum - seekers and refugees to liberty of movement and residence, and ensure that asylum - seekers are provided with redress and effective legal remedies in relation to their requests for refugee status, including judicial appeal procedures. It also recommends that the State party accede to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees .
2024
2024
2024
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
§26. The Committee recommends that the State party:
...
(b) Collect data and establish appropriate mechanisms aimed at early identification and referral of, and assistance and support for, victims of trafficking, especially women migrant workers arrested for “ absconding ” and other breaches of the sponsorship law, violations of the immigration law or prostitution;
2014
2014
Committee against Torture
§10. The State party should promptly take effective measures to ensure that all detainees, including non-citizens, are afforded, in practice, all fundamental legal safeguards from the very outset of detention, including the rights to promptly receive independent legal assistance and a medical exam ination by an independent doctor, contact relatives, and appear before a judge within a time limit in accordance with international standards. The State party should also take steps to ensure effective monitoring of the adherence of all personnel to the laws governing safeguards, and discipline or prosecute those who fail to provide them to persons deprived of their liberty as required by law. The State party should ensure that all detainees, including minors, are included o n a central register. The State party is encouraged to introduce systematic video and audio monitoring and recording of all interrogations, in all places where torture and ill-treatment are likely to occur, and provide the necessary resources to that end.
§ 15. The State party should ensure that fully independent monitoring of all places used for deprivation of liberty, including the Deportation Detention Centre , psychiatric facilities and the State security prison, takes place on a regular basis, as well as including unannounced visits, and should follow up effectively on the outcome of such systematic monitoring in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The State party should strengthen the mandate and resources of the National Human Rights Committee and other national monitoring mechanisms to that end. The State party is encouraged to accept monitoring of places of detention by non-governmental organizations and relevant international mechanisms and to consider ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention as soon as possible.
§20. The State party should take all necessary measures to :
...(b) E nsure systematic procedures to identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups, such as those arrested for immigration violations or prostitution, and provide protection for victims and access for them to medical, social rehabilitative and legal services, including counsel l ing services, as appropriate...
2013
2013
Committee against Torture
§42. The State party should:
(a) Refrain from detaining undocumented migrants for prolonged periods, use detention as a measure of last resort only and for as short a period as possible and promote alternatives to detention;
(b) Ensure that detained foreigners, including undocumented migrants, have the right to contact the consular services of their respective country and are entitled to receive legal aid;
(c) Continue its efforts to improve the conditions of detention and alleviate the overcrowding of deportation detention facilities, including through the application of non-custodial measures. In doing so, the Committee draws the State party ’ s attention to the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) and the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules).
2018
2018
Committee on the Rights of the Child
§34: (...) the Committee urges the State party to:
(a) Refrain from holding children and families with children in immigration detention facilities in line with the principles of the best interests of the child and of family unity; systematically employ non-custodial measures rather than detention; and establish shelters f or those categories of migrant;
2017
2017
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
§ 30: The State party ensure judicial appeals procedures for asylum seekers and allow asylum seekers and refugees to have access to basic rights. The State party ratify the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees.
2019
2019
Committee on Migrant Workers
§ 46. The State party: (a) Take further legislative measures to ensure that domestic workers are granted the same legal protection as other migrant workers whose rights are covered under the Labour Act (Act No. 14 of 2004) and develop and implement measures for labour inspection, enforcement and penalties with due regard for the special characteristics of domestic work; (b)Continue to collaborate with ILO through the technical cooperation programme to abolish the kafalah system; (c) Ensure that women migrant workers, in particular domestic workers, have effective access to legal aid and complaint mechanisms, shelters and rehabilitation services; (d) Systematically investigate all allegations of exploitation, abuse and violence against migrant domestic workers and ensure that abusive employers are held accountable and punished with sanctions commensurate with the gravity of the offence; (e) Provide information on the situation of migrant women, including pregnant women and women with children, who are detained in the Doha deportation detention centre; the number of complaints about violence, including sexual violence, brought by women migrant workers; and the number of investigations and prosecutions and the sentences imposed on perpetrators; (f) Ratify the ILO Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189).
2019
2019
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
30. Recalling its previous recommendations (ibid., para. 26), as well as target 5.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals, which is aimed at eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation, the Committee recommends that the State party:
(...)
(d) Ensure that victims of trafficking, including women migrant domestic workers, may lodge complaints without fear of arrest, detention or deportation, including by ensuring that they are informed of their rights in a language that they understand and through an accessible medium;
(...)
45. The Committee welcomes the measures adopted by the State party to strengthen the rights of women migrant workers, including Act No. 15 of 2017 regarding domestic workers, Act No. 1 of 2017 on the regulation of entrance, exit and residence of expatriates and Act No. 13 of 2017 establishing a labour dispute resolution committee. It also welcomes the signing in November 2017 of a three-year technical cooperation programme with ILO that aims to ensure compliance with the ILO conventions ratified by the State party, including by abolishing the kafalah system. Nevertheless, the Committee expresses concern that: (...)
(c) The lack of information on the situation of migrant women, including pregnant women and women with children, who are detained in the Doha deportation detention centre; the number of complaints about violence, including sexual violence, brought by women migrant workers during the reporting period; and the number of investigations and prosecutions and the sentences imposed on perpetrators.
46. Recalling its previous concluding observations (ibid., para. 38) and its general recommendation No. 26 (2008) on women migrant workers, the Committee recommends that the State party: (...) (e) Provide information on the situation of migrant women, including pregnant women and women with children, who are detained in the Doha deportation detention centre; the number of complaints about violence, including sexual violence, brought by women migrant workers; and the number of investigations and prosecutions and the sentences imposed on perpetrators; (...)
2019
2019
Global Detention Project and Partner Submissions to Treaty Bodies
Date of Submission
Observation Date
2018
https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/submission-cerd-qatar
Migrant-Rights.org
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
9th Session (26 November- 14 December 2018)
CERD recommendations emphasized ensuring that refugees and asylum seekers were given rights, but other elements were less addressed.
List of Issues Prior to Reporting
Partially
Priority issues/concerns To provide information on implementation of recommendations following the visit of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants issued in 2014. To ensure that stati
2018
2016
https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/submission-to-the-committee-on-the-rights-of-the-child-qatar
Priority questions:
Provide statistics on the number of foreign children currently living in Qatar;
Provide data on the number of foreign children placed in detention annually because of their or their parents’ immigration status, including disaggregated data on accompanied and unaccompanied minors;
List the legal grounds that specifically provide for the detention of children for immigration-related reasons and that impose limits on the length of immigration detention for children (CRC article 37(b));
Provide disaggregated data on children born in detention in the deportation centre to foreign women detained on account of their being pregnant outside of marriage and kept in detention with their mothers;
Do children placed in immigration detention have access to legal assistance and can they challenge the legality of deprivation of liberty (CRC Article 37(37(d));
Provide information about alternatives to detention for migrant (“expatriate”) children prior to deportation including the type of facilities used.
Which facilities are used in Qatar for the purposes of depriving foreign children, both accompanied and unaccompanied, of their liberty for reasons related to their immigration status? Please mention all facilities in which a person is not allowed to freely enter or exit, even if such facilities are not officially called detention centres (including, for instance, any secure “shelters”) or fall under the responsibility of social welfare agencies.
Provide information on conditions of detention for children placed in immigration detention. Are children kept separated from unrelated adults (CRC Article 37(c)? Are there special family units? Can children engage in recreational activities (CRC Article 31).
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
74th Pre-Sessional Working Group (6-10 June 2016)
Recommendations push to end immigration detention of children, but don't address every issue
List of Issues Prior to Reporting
Partially
Priority questions: Provide statistics on the number of foreign children currently living in Qatar; Provide data on the number of foreign children placed in detention annually because of their or the
2016
> UN Special Procedures
Visits by Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council
Year of Visit
Observation Date
Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
2019
2019
2019
Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
2019
2019
2019
Relevant Recommendations or Observations by UN Special Procedures
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Working Group on arbitrary detention
Amend the Penal Code to include a definition or clarification of the
circumstances in which deprivation of liberty may be considered to be arbitrary in accordance with article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and to guarantee compensation and other reparations for such deprivation of liberty.
Decriminalize non-violent acts such as adultery, intimate relations outside
marriage, debt, absconding from an employer, sorcery, disobedience to parents, begging, consumption of alcohol and substance abuse, that may be leading to an unnecessarily high incidence of arbitrary detention.
(b) Amend the Criminal Procedure Code and any other applicable legislation
so that persons arrested are brought before a judge, not the Public Prosecution, within 48 hours of arrest.
2020
2020
2020
Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
69. The Special Rapporteur recommends that Qatar:
(a) Decriminalize both the offence of leaving work without the employer’s
permission (“absconding”), and consensual sexual relations outside marriage (zina
crime), and prohibit the detention and deportation of migrants, especially migrant
women, as punishment for those offences;
(b) End the detention and deportation of migrant workers for financial
reasons, including bounced checks and debt such as unpaid loans;
(c) Ensure that the rights of detained migrants are fully respected, including
their right to contact their embassy or consular services
4. Undocumented populations
75. The Special Rapporteur recommends that Qatar fully respect the rights of undocumented migrants in accordance with its international obligations, and refrain from holding children and families with children in immigration detention facilities, in accordance with the principles of the best interests of the child and of family unity;
and establish shelters for those categories of migrants.
2020
2020
2020
Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
§86. Ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and establish a national preventive mechanism with a mandate to undertake unannounced visits to all places where migrants are deprived of their liberty.
...
§121. Refrain from detaining individuals for the sole reason of having absconded from their employer. End the systematic detention of migrants awaiting deportation and always explore alternatives to detention. Detention should be a measure of last resort, limited to those cases where there is a risk of a migrant absconding from future proceedings, or when the person poses a threat to his or her own or public security, and its duration should be limited to the minimum time necessary. A maximum time limit should be established by law.
§122. Significantly improve detention conditions and procedural safeguards, in line with international human rights standards, and develop appropriate regulations on the detention of migrants in line with international human rights standards. In particular, ensure that all detained migrants have easy access to:
(a) Adequate medical care, interpreters, adequate food and clothes, a bed and clean sheets, hygienic conditions, adequate space to move around and access to outdoor exercise;
(b) Information in a language they understand as to the reason for their detention, its duration and the right and means to challenge the detention;
(c) Means of contacting their family and consular services, as well as those of an interpreter and a lawyer, which should be free of charge if necessary, in order to be able to exercise their rights.
§123. Seek guidance from the report of the Special Rapporteur on the detention of migrants in an irregular situation (A/HRC/20/24).
§124. Refrain from detaining pregnant women.
§125. Refrain from detaining children and families with children, in conformity with the principles of the best interests of the child and of family unity. Shelters should be established, particularly for those categories of migrants.
§126. Ensure full access to all detention facilities for lawyers and international and local civil society organizations and implement systematic independent monitoring of detention centres.
§127. Seek technical assistance from OHCHR in relation to the detention of migrants, including on how to determine the criteria for detention, and on procedural safeguards and detention conditions.
...
§131. Ensure that single mothers are not imprisoned with their babies. Instead, those who wish to return to their countries should be assisted in returning home with their babies, with help from their consular authorities. In the meantime, they should be housed in shelters, whenever required. Measures should
2014
2014
2014
Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
95. The Special Rapporteur recommends that:
...
(m) Screening and identification procedures of trafficked persons in detention centres be systematic. Alternative arrangements, other than deportation or detention centres, should be considered to safely house identified trafficked persons;
...
(q) Authorities ensure that embassies are systematically informed when their nationals are being detained, and visits by the relevant consular officials be facilitated. Sending countries should ensure that their embassies in the receiving States have the necessary resources to carry out such visits, follow up on the cases and provide any necessary assistance;
...
(u) Migrant workers in detention centres be informed of the reasons of their arrest in a language they understand, be provided with legal assistance if requested, be allowed to make a local or international phone call and have access to their embassies
2007
2007
2007
Global Detention Project and Partner Submissions to UN Special Procedures
> UN Universal Periodic Review
Relevant Recommendations or Observations from the UN Universal Periodic Review
Observation Date
Yes
20. To protect its migrant workers from exploitation by ensuring that applicable laws and practices conform to international human rights standards guaranteeing migrant workers their human rights, including the right to freedom of movement (Canada)
2010
1st
Yes
124.66 Adopt all necessary measures, including legislative measures, in order to apply a policy on migrants with a human rights perspective, in particular with regard to the detention of migrants, especially women and children (Uruguay)
2014
2nd
HEALTH CARE PROVISION
HEALTH IMPACTS
COVID-19
Country Updates
On 7 December, a Filipino worker reportedly died while carrying out repairs at a training facility in Qatar used by the Saudi Arabian football team, marking the latest in a series of work-related incidents connected to the Qatar World Cup. According to the Guardian, approximately 6,500 migrant workers from five countries have died since Qatar was awarded the World Cup (a figure that includes migrant workers who were not working directly on World Cup projects). In comparison, Qatar’s authorities have reported that “between 400 and 500” migrants have died while working on World Cup-related projects, but that a precise figure was still “being discussed.”
In addition to the appalling human toll that the World Cup has had on migrant workers in the country, the Qatari government’s lack of clarity about the impact on foreign labourers has underscored its seeming lack of transparency with respect to immigration policies (the GDP and its partner Migrant-Rights.org have repeatedly issued information requests to relevant Qatari authorities about their migration-related detention practices without receiving any response to date).
Qatar has long relied on a large migrant labour force. The number of migrant workers surged in 2014 as a result of labour demands related to the World Cup preparations. As of 2019, an estimated 95 percent of the country’s total labour force are foreign migrant workers, with many working within construction or as domestic workers. Criticisms of the way in which foreign workers are treated in the country have long been levelled at Qatari authorities, including the fact that many face dire living and working conditions. Complaints have included unsanitary and overcrowded accommodation, long working hours, exorbitant recruitment fees, and labour under extreme heat stress. As the former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch tweeted in August: “Qatar is so hot in the summer that the World Cup was moved to November, but many migrants worked year-round to build 8 new stadiums.”
Particularly controversial has been the country’s Kafala (“sponsorship”) system, which has prompted repeated criticisms from international organisations and human rights groups for enabling and encouraging the exploitation of workers. This system, which is common across the Gulf, ties workers to their employers and requires employers to give permission for workers to change jobs or to leave the country. This exposes workers to exploitation—or, if they do leave their employer, leaves them vulnerable to detention and deportation.
Since 2017, considerable international pressure has prompted authorities to initiate various labour reforms in Qatar—including reforms in 2018 and 2020 making important changes to the Kafala system. However, as rights groups such as Amnesty International have highlighted, although the 2018 and 2020 reforms mean that most migrant workers can now leave the country or change jobs without permission, workers still face detention and deportation if their employer cancels their visa, fails to renew their residency visa, or reports them as having absconded. This year, Amnesty has documented numerous instances in which employers filed absconsion cases in retaliation against workers lodging complaints with the Ministry of Labour regarding poor working conditions and other employment abuses.
Migrant workers have also been detained and deported for protesting against issues including wage theft. In August 2022 for example, authorities detained and deported at least 60 migrant workers protesting outside Al Bandary International Group’s office in Doha. The workers accused the company of withholding their salary for up to seven months. The number of migrant workers being deported prior to the World Cup’s kick-off also grew substantially—reportedly the result of a Qatari plan to “maximise the reduction in the number of workers in the country” in the run up to the tournament. According to the Guardian, migrants’ contracts were terminated early and workers sent home—often leaving migrants in significant debt, having not worked long enough to repay the huge sums paid to recruitment companies to secure jobs in the country.
The GDP has recorded the use of one dedicated immigration detention facility in Qatar—the Deportation Detention Centre in Doha. In a 2019 submission by Qatar to the Committee on Migrant Workers, the country described the facility as a “model temporary detention centre” and as being equipped with “the most up-to-date means” for detainees, including modern and air-conditioned accommodation, health services, and recreational services. However, former detainees depict a different picture including bed-bug riddled mattresses and overcrowding. Migrant workers are also detained in police stations, although police custody is usually short-term before the person is transferred to another facility.
Those highlighting the dire treatment of migrant workers ahead of the World Cup have also faced retribution in the country. One whistleblower, Abdullah Ibhais, was formerly employed as a communications director for Qatar’s World Cup organisers (a governmental body, the “Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy”) but was jailed in 2021 in what he and his supporters believe was a retaliation for his criticism of the Supreme Committee’s treatment of migrant workers. According to his family, Ibhais was also tortured in the days leading up to the start of the tournament. In a letter, his family allege that he spent four days “in complete darkness in solitary confinement after being physically assaulted.”
As reported previously on this platform (Qatar 7 May), migrant workers in Qatar, who make up the majority of the country's workforce, appear to have been disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, which reported 1,595 new cases on 7 June. Qatar’s overcrowded labor camps are a “fertile ground for transmission of COVID-19,” according to a health expert with the World Bank (CBS 15 May).
In Doha’s central prison, detention conditions have deteriorated, according to detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Reports denounce the lack of antiseptic gel and the limited access to soap and water. Due to the overcrowding in the buildings, the social distancing is impossible to maintain. HRW called out the government on the outbreak in the central prison, to which Qatar’s communications office responded shortly after. They declared that the report of an outbreak was false, and that “prisoners were being provided with health services ‘equal’ to the rest of the country's residents.”
On 17 May, Qatar announced that individuals not wearing a protection mask in public spaces would be arrested and jailed for up to 3 months.
On 8 June, 250 Bangladeshi were released from prisons or detention camps in Qatar and taken to Bangladesh on a special flight.
With more than 17,000 cases of Covid-19, Qatar has the highest infection rate in the Gulf. Most cases concern migrant workers, who make up 95 percent of the country’s workforce. Since 2010, in preparation for the 2022 World Cup, there has been an important increase in the numbers of migrant workers, in particular in sectors such as construction, hotel, and domestic work.
Most of these workers reside in a work camp near Doha, an industrial zone that was placed under quarantine. There were reportedly shortages of food during the first days of the confinement. The NGO Qatar Charity distributed meals to some 4,000 migrant workers, but the total number of residents in the camp is estimated to be several tens of thousands. The conditions in the work camp are particularly worrying because migrants do not have the space to socially distance and most of them do not have access to health care or proper sanitation.
Many migrant workers were arrested and deported to Nepal, according to Amnesty International. They were told that they were being taken to screening centres, and that they would return to their accommodation later. Instead, they were taken to detention centres, where ‘’they were kept in abominable conditions for several days’’, as reported by Amnesty International.
On 1 April, a coalition of rights groups, including Migrant-Rigths.org and Amnesty International, issued a joint letter “urging Qatar to take adequate steps to protect migrant workers amid the COVID-19 crisis.” The letter, which was also sent to the other Gulf countries, made the following recommendations:
1. Ensure that all workers, quarantined or otherwise, whose living conditions leave them particularly vulnerable to infection, are tested and provided with appropriate medical treatment, and that undocumented worker can seek medical treatment without fear of detention. All workers should have access to adequate housing facilities, including a facility to isolate themselves if necessary, as well as water and sanitation, so they can effectively protect themselves;
2. No one, including migrant workers, is detained for violating quarantine;
3. Migrant workers who are unable to work, either due to preventive quarantine or testing positive for COVID-19, continue to receive their full wages;
4. Provide the public with information to ensure that migrant workers, including domestic workers, do not face discrimination or stigma in relation to the COVID-19 virus;
5. Ensure domestic workers are provided with access to timely and adequate protective measures and healthcare and receive sick pay if they are unable to work due to illness.
Riots have broken out in Qatar’s prisons. In the central prison in Doha, prisoners attacked a guard and burnt several cells. It has also been reported that the administration is refusing to release prisoners even though Covid-19 is spreading within its penal institutions. Rioters are being placed in isolation, without water, food or cigarettes. Some have been transferred to a prison at the centre of an industrial estate despite the quarantine measures in place in that facility. Qatar is the member of the Gulf Cooperation Council with most Covid-19 cases. 483 cases have been confirmed on 22 March 2020.
Reports have also indicated that the country’s largest labour camp for migrant workers has become a virtual prison, with police guarding the perimeter, leaving thousands of workers trapped in squalid, overcrowded camps, where the virus can spread rapidly. A Nepali worker who lives inside the area commented: “we are not allowed to walk in groups or eat in a tea shop. But you can still buy food and take it home. I’m worried about my family back home. There won’t be anyone to take care of them if anything happens to me”.
The GDP has been unable to find any reports indicating that authorities have taken measures to assist migrants and asylum seekers, including those in detention.
Government Agencies
Ministry of Interior: https://portal.moi.gov.qa/wps/portal/MOIInternet/MOIHome
International Organisations
UNHCR Qatar http://www.unhcr.org/qatar.html
Media
Doha News: http://dohanews.co/
The Peninsula: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/
NGOs and Research Institutions
Migrant Rights Quatar https://www.migrant-rights.org/category/gulf/qatar/
Human Rights Watch Quatar https://www.hrw.org/middle-east/n-africa/qatar
