60 workers arrested in Qatar for complaining about conditions
More than a hundred workers from Southeast Asia protested in mid-August in front of the headquarters of the Al Bandary International Group in Doha against the harsh working conditions they are subjected to and delays in the payment of their salaries. After this, 60 of them were arrested, according to information from the AP agency, some of them were even deported.
According to the complaint of the workers, the company has not paid the workers' salaries for more than 2 months. The demonstration and the arrests take place barely 3 months before the start of the controversial football World Cup in Qatar. According to agency reports, the workers blocked a road for several hours. The Qatari government confirmed the arrest of several of the protesters in a statement in which it said the protesters "violated public security laws".
The company, Al Bandy International Group, has not released a statement in response to the incident. It is a conglomerate of 18 companies involved in engineering, infrastructure, construction and other services. Information on its website refers to an address in Doha, the capital of Qatar, but it reportedly also operates in the United Arab Emirates, according to its job portal.
كما وصلني على الواتساب .
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قال الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم :" اعطوا الأجير أجره قبل ان يجف عرقة ."
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The Qatari Ministry of Labour did confirm to the AP that many of the company's workers have not received their paychecks for the past few months and has pledged to advance back pay as well as compensation.
This is not the first time such a controversy has hit the media. The competition put the spotlight on the harsh, sometimes criminal, conditions under which workers labour in the small peninsular state of Qatar. Some NGOs estimate that around 6,500 workers died on the construction site.
There were intentions on the part of the Qatari government and the contracting companies to improve the situation of the workers in order to avoid a negative image affecting the country and the competition, but in view of the news, the outcome of the improvements is doubtful. Among the improvements for workers is the abolition of the "Kafala", an employment system governed by Islamic law that gave the employer full rights over his workers.
Qatar, like many other Gulf countries, relies heavily on foreign labour to carry out its ambitious development plans. Foreign workers in Qatar have no trade union rights and are subject to a strict immigration and labour control regime. According to NGOs that study cases of labour abuses in various Gulf countries, even leaving the country can be extremely difficult for foreign workers, who often end up trapped in the country and in appalling conditions.
