Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD) has warmly welcomed the adoption of an Urgency Resolution by the European Parliament calling upon the Government of Qatar to improve the human rights situation of migrant workers in the run-up to the 2022 World Cup. The Director of GNRD – Brussels, Mr. Ramadan Abu Jazar said that GNRD has worked tirelessly to ensure that MEPs were informed of the deteriorating human rights situation for migrant workers in Qatar and that the adoption of the Urgency Resolution was a firm signal from the European Union that the situation must improve rapidly.
Noting that Qatar has ratified the ILO Convention Concerning Forced Compulsory Labour, among numerous other international human rights instruments, the European Parliament has expressed concern about long working hours, hazardous working conditions, workers being unpaid for months, having their passports confiscated, being forced to live in overcrowded camps, being denied the right to form unions, and being denied access to drinking water in extreme heat. The Parliament members also noted the deaths of an average of 600 workers each year in Qatar.