The State of Qatar has introduced over the past decade sweeping reforms in labour laws in line with the rapid infrastructure development and fast-growing economy that attracted hundreds of thousands of expatriate workers seeking better jobs to ensure decent living conditions for their families.
As the country currently hosts over two million expatriate workers and their families, their living conditions and well-being remains one of the government’s top priorities. This has prompted introduction and implementation of extensive reforms aimed at introducing new laws to strengthen means of protecting the expatriate workers’ rights and offer them decent living conditions.
The reform process covered wide-ranging areas in relation to expatriate workers’ welfare, including new laws, procedures for free mobility, change of work, introduction of a non-discriminatory minimum wage, establishment of Workers’ Support and Insurance Fund and opening of over 20 Qatar Visa Centres (QVCs) abroad to curb exploitation of the workers in their home countries. These genuine, long-lasting reforms have placed Qatar in a leading position in the region and have been recognised by major human rights groups and UN organizations.
Along these reforms different authorities concerned have carried out awareness seminars and campaigns like the one launched yesterday by the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) ‘Together We Work’.
The campaign is aimed at disseminating and strengthening awareness about these laws and regulations at all levels in particular to consolidate knowledge of workers’ rights and duties and spread a culture of human rights in general.
NHRC as a prominent rights advocating body is striving to develop culture of human rights and harness capabilities of the society to understand and exercise their rights and duties. Therefore the campaign targets employers and workers and make them aware of their duties and rights on equal basis. The step reflects the great interest the NHRC attached to the issues of workers and employers alike, “with an aim of consolidating human rights principles and translating them on the ground in various fields of work and contributing to overcoming obstacles that prevent all parties from enjoying full and undiminished rights”.
In this regard, Head of Public Relations and Media Unit at the NHRC, Abdullah Ali Al Mahmoud, stressed that the Qatari Labor Law guarantees all the professional and social rights of workers and employers. Strengthening and confirmation of workers’ rights, by provision of appropriate work conditions, safe work environment and ensuring health conditions for workers is State’s priority.
