Human rights expert: “Qatar is becoming increasingly sensitive to criticism”

The World Cup country Qatar has been criticized for years because of its human rights. Despite promised reforms, hardly anyone knows how things really are in the Gulf state. There has been progress, says human rights expert Lisa Salza ntv.de. But there is still much trouble.

ntv.de: The men’s football World Cup will start in Qatar in just under three weeks – but the country has been criticized for years for its handling of human rights. Which allegations do you think are the most serious?

Lisa Salza: First and foremost, Amnesty International accuses Qatar of exploiting migrant workers. They have done too little about wage theft, abuse in certain industries and forced labor in recent years. In addition, they have failed to adopt adequate safeguards to protect migrant workers from heat stress, who are often exposed to extreme heat for more than ten hours a day. This has led to a high number of accidents at work, including death. Qatar also criminalizes LGBTIQ people, women’s rights are not respected according to international standards and freedom of expression and assembly is not sufficiently guaranteed.

You address the lack of women’s rights in Qatar. What does that mean specifically?

Women are still not equal to men in everyday life, but also before the law. This means, for example, that they need the consent of their male guardians for many decisions in their daily lives: if women want to study abroad or take a job with the government, for example. And also if you want to get divorced. There are also examples where there is multiple discrimination, I am talking about the fate of female migrant workers. At least half of the women who come to Qatar for labor work as domestic workers in private households, where they are extremely vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and long working hours. They hardly have the opportunity to denounce the grievances and to demand their rights.

Qatar has been criticized for these reasons for many years, but has vowed to improve. What has become of it?

After human rights organizations, trade unions and sponsors increasingly rebelled against the abuses and also held FIFA accountable, the country finally enacted the first reforms in 2017. At that time, there was a minimum wage for migrant workers because they are still severely discriminated against against Qatari citizens. In addition, so-called arbitration boards have been set up so that labor disputes – such as allegations of wage theft – can be dealt with quickly. Then, in 2020, you also abolished the most problematic aspects of the kafala system – the exit permit and the requirement for a permit to change jobs – in law. This means that two aspects that have opened the floodgates to exploitation have disappeared.

The kafala system?

In the kafala system, migrant workers are very dependent on their employers. If you wanted to change jobs, you needed a so-called clearance certificate from your employer. They also needed permission from their employer if they wanted to leave the country. That has now been abolished in law. But unfortunately it is the case that this is not fully implemented in practice. There are still many loopholes in the law to circumvent these reforms, and employers are rarely sanctioned for doing so. In practice, abuse still occurs.

In connection with the criticism of Qatar, Sigmar Gabriel accused the Germans of arrogance. In a tweet he drew attention to the late reforms for homosexuals, women’s rights and the bad treatment of guest workers in Germany. Do you agree with the criticism?

Criticism can be voiced, but you have to be careful not to measure with different cubits. Qatar deliberately exposed itself to this criticism to a certain extent when it applied for the World Cup and should now be able to live with it. There has been progress, but some things are still a mess. Incidentally, this is not the first time Amnesty International has expressed criticism of a host country of a major sporting event. We have also taken a very critical look at previous football World Cups and Olympic Games and denounced the lack of freedom of assembly at the World Cup in Russia or the forced resettlement at the Olympic Games in Brazil and Beijing .

In the case of Qatar, I believe it is the first time that the human rights violations that accompanied the preparatory work have been widely discussed in public. We very much welcome this discussion because public pressure ultimately led to human rights criteria being introduced at FIFA for the future awarding of soccer World Cups. In the future it will no longer be so easy to apply for a football World Cup and completely ignore the human rights situation. So I think the criticism of Qatar is justified, because the country has long refused to improve the rights of migrant workers, homosexuals and women and in some cases still refuses to do so. These human rights standards should apply to all countries, not just Qatar.

The director of Human Rights Watch Germany, Wenzel Michalski, has called the reform process in Qatar “a disgrace” because hardly anything is progressing. Is that correct?

In fact, these reforms took a very long time to complete. Above all, I find it a disgrace that it took so long for these reform processes to even kick-start after Qatar and FIFA were sued and sponsors threatened to pull out. The reforms were therefore only undertaken under pressure and not out of their own will and understanding. There is still very strong resistance from employers to implement the reforms.

Is there a chance that the reforms will still be in place after the World Cup?

That is actually the big question. FIFA and Qatar have drafted a so-called sustainability strategy. It covers many, many pages. So far, however, we have seen too few signs that they really care about the rights of people affected by discrimination and exploitation in Qatar. We can see that from the fact that those responsible refuse to pay appropriate compensation for people who have been affected by human rights violations. Another indication is that these reforms and advances have only come in the form of pressure and because of the spotlight now on Qatar. A third point is the great local resistance to implementing these reforms. Entrepreneurs can, of course, make less profit if they have to cut people’s working days, provide them with better wages and better housing. The doubts as to whether these reforms will last are very justified.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser’s criticism of working conditions in Qatar was initially received very poorly by the Qatari government. Do you think Faeser will be able to discuss the grievances with the leadership in Qatar when she visits the site?

That is clearly our expectation. When government officials travel to Qatar now, they must address human rights and demand full implementation of the reforms. Qatar has committed itself to international human rights standards by signing the human rights pacts.

How do you think the government in Qatar will react to this?

The government in Qatar is becoming increasingly sensitive to criticism. From their point of view, they have now introduced the required reforms and have been able to achieve improvements compared to the other Gulf States, which still have the Kavala system. At the same time, they expect, as FIFA Secretary General Gianni Infantino has repeatedly stressed, that local conditions should be respected at this World Cup. This can be interpreted, for example, in such a way that LGBTIQ* fans should leave the rainbow flag at home. From their point of view, Qatar have done their utmost and are a bit tired of still being criticized for their omissions. However, our observation is that despite improvements, human rights violations, some of them massive, still occur every day. As long as the government doesn’t do enough about it, it must be able to withstand the criticism.

How does Qatar compare to other Gulf States?

The kafala system does not only exist in Qatar, but in all Gulf States and other countries in the Middle East. Qatar is the country to date that has initiated the most comprehensive labor law reforms. Even if many of the reforms have not yet been satisfactorily implemented, it is to be hoped that the legal reforms in Qatar will spread to other countries in the region.

There has also recently been criticism because visitors to the World Cup in Qatar have to load two apps onto their smartphones. What do you know about it?

I know this fuels fears that may well be justified. At the Olympic Games in China, athletes were already asked to download an app under the pretext of Covid tracking. There, as now in Qatar, it is very unclear how long and for what purposes this data will be stored. At that time, we recommended that the athletes simply take a new, empty mobile phone with them so that no existing personal data and contacts could be tapped. It is fundamentally problematic to have to hand over your personal data to a government without knowing how long it will be stored and what it will be used for.

Vivian Micks spoke to Lisa Salza