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Migrant Labour Recruitment to Qatar

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Migrant Labour Recruitment to Qatar Migrant Labour Recruitment to Qatar Report for Qatar Foundation Migrant Worker Welfare Initiative Ray Jureidini MIGRANT LABOUR RECRUITMENT TO QATAR MIGRANT LABOUR RECRUITMENT TO QATAR Report for Qatar Foundation Migrant Worker Welfare Initiative Dr Ray Jureidini Associate Professor of Sociology, Institute for Migration Studies, Lebanese American University, Beirut Director of Research, Center of Design Innovation at Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar MIGRANT LABOUR RECRUITMENT TO QATAR Report for Qatar Foundation Migrant Worker Welfare Initiative Dr Ray Jureidini Associate Professor of Sociology, Institute for Migration Studies, Lebanese American University, Beirut. Director of Research, Center of Design Innovation at Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar. ISBN 978-9927-101-75-5 Cover design by Robert Canak This open access book, along with others, is available online at http://www.qscience.com/page/books Copyright © 2014 Jureidini, licensee Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Journals. This is an open access book distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license CC BY-4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii Executive Summary and Recommendations ix List of Tables xix Acronyms xxi Chapter 1 Introduction and Context 1 Debt Bondage, Forced Labour and Human Trafficking 5 Family Dependents 8 Research Focus 10 Objectives 10 Methodology 10 Chapter 2 Government Collaboration 13 Government–to–Government Collaboration 14 Bilateral Agreements 19 Establishment of a national coordinating body 27 Chapter 3 Financing of Labour Migration 29 Induced Indebtedness 30 Recruitment Fees 35 Nepal Recruitment Charges 39 India Recruitment Charges 40 Sri Lanka Recruitment Charges 40 Bangladesh Recruitment Charges 41 Philippines Recruitment Charges 42 Worker Payments as Source of Corruption – “Kickback” Bribery 44 Chapter 4 Recruitment Agencies 51 Country of Origin Ministries for Migrant Welfare 54 Government recruitment agencies 55 Associations of Recruitment Agencies 55 Sub-agents in Recruitment 56 Qatar Labour Supply Agencies 62 Deception and Trafficking 64 Ethical Recruitment 67 QF Standards on Recruitment 68 v CONTENTS Ethical Recruitment Agencies 73 Red Flags of Risk and Vulnerability to Broker-Induced Hiring Traps 76 Chapter 5 Contracts and Visas 83 Passports 84 Procedures 85 Irregular Workers 87 Deception and Substitute Contracts 87 Visas 89 “Free Visas” 92 Termination of Contracts 93 Exit Visa 95 Chapter 6 Wages and Conditions of Work 99 Financial Incentive 100 Wage Level Determination 101 Food Allowances 105 Wages and Strike Action 106 Late Wage Payments 107 Equal Pay 109 Chapter 7 Orientation and Awareness-Raising 113 Chapter 8 Concluding Discussion 123 Appendix 1: Fieldwork Interviews 131 Appendix 2: ILO Conventions Ratified by Qatar 137 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There were many people assisting in the research for this report. At the outset, much gratitude must go to QF’s higher management, particularly the President, Eng. Saad Al-Muhannadi, for his endless support of the migrant worker welfare initiative in its entirety. Without his backing, none of the initiative would have been possible; similarly, many thanks to Eng. Jassim Telefat, Group Executive Director of QF, for his much appreciated support for the project and publication of this report. Apart from the migrant workers themselves, recruitment agencies, ministry officials, NGOs and scholars who gave up some of their precious time to be interviewed in Qatar and the five countries visited, a number of names must be mentioned for special acknowledgement. Much thanks go to Ameena Ahmadi, Acting Technical Director at QF Capital Projects and managing the (Karama) Migrant Workers Welfare Initiative for her steadfastness and relentless support in getting approval for the recruitment project, and for her most generous patience; Bowman (Bo) Heiden for being the initiator and inspiration for the Karama initiative; Afiga Heydarova, who assisted in the programmatic design of the research, interviews with embassies and labour supply companies in Doha and the Philippines fieldwork report; Aakash Jayaprakash, the associate researcher in the latter part of the project, whose networks and organizational skills are unbounded, was vital to the trips to Sri Lanka and India, researching, arranging and assisting in conducting interviews in those countries as well as the worker interviews for the pilot audit in Doha, data entry from the questionnaires and sending country data; Umair Doga and Malik Habayeb were the most intelligent and committed volunteers imaginable, assisting with background research and transcribing of recorded interviews and literature reviews; Jasmine Mohamed who dutifully transcribed many of the interviews; Arif Zaher, whose early journey to Nepal gave us the initial insights to pursue the project further; Stan Zippan, whose community based housing designs were matched by his broader philosophical insights and advice; Amin Matni whose obsession with design precision established the most comprehensive grid of the migration cycle; Kevin Murray (former HSE Director), Chris Newman (Welfare Manager at QF) and Jonathan (Richard) Summers (ASTAD) for the support and invaluable advice from their enormous knowledge and experience of the construction industry in QF and Qatar generally. I am also most grateful to Dr Kathleen Hamill for comments on an early draft of the manuscript. All flaws, omissions and errors are the responsibility of the author. vii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS I. INTRODUCTION This report examines foreign labour recruitment into Qatar. The report is based on a study conducted to ascertain the financial and procedural circumstances that give rise to basic human rights violations during labour recruitment. Based upon the study’s findings, the aim of this report is to offer recommendations for reform that will reduce or eliminate labour and human rights violations – and stimulate discussion on the issues raised. II. RATIONALE Ensuring an ethical recruitment phase for workers moving from abroad to Qatar is critical and involves an inter-relationship between all the stakeholders in origin and destination countries – the migrant workers themselves, origin and destination governments, intermediary private recruitment and placement agencies and brokers, construction companies, their subcontractors and labour supply firms. This study was conducted to provide a clearer understanding of the various people, institutions and issues involved in recruitment and hiring practices of migrant workers to Qatar; to provide more detail on what transpires prior to migrant workers’ departure from their home countries and upon their arrival in Qatar; and to look specifically at how reform might take place that gives greater respect for workers’ rights and employment conditions according to international labour and human rights standards. With increasing criticism of labour rights violations in Qatar by a plethora of international organizations and the media in the lead up to preparations for the FIFA World Cup, it was necessary to ascertain to what extent trafficking, debt bondage and forced labour, that largely result from recruitment processes in sending countries, could be addressed and leveraged by the Qatari authorities and its “clients”1 for the workforce of its contractors and their sub-contractors – and for the country and region as a whole. Some of the findings from the early stages of the study have already resulted in reform measures enshrined in Qatar Foundation’s Mandatory Standards for Migrant Worker Welfare for Contractors and Subcontractors (QF Mandatory Standards) and more recently the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee with its “Workers 1 “Clients” of the state are referred to as instrumentalities like the Qatar Foundation, Q-Rail, Ashgal (the Public Works Authority) or Q22 (the Supreme Committee for the 2022 soccer World Cup). ix EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Charter”. The QF Mandatory Standards are already being hailed as path breaking and inspiring by international organizations like the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to name a few. It is most important that they will be comprehensively and consistently implemented in order to achieve their aspirational goals. III. METHOD The study was qualitative, comprising interviews and discussion groups with migrant workers, government representatives, recruitment agencies, academics, NGOs and international agencies for approximately ten days in each of the five main labour sending countries – Philippines, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. Key discussion topics in each location included recruitment, regulations, financing, contracts, pre-deployment preparation, recruitment agency policies and practices, visas, remittances and wage rates. IV. RECOMMENDATIONS The key findings of the discussions led to the following set of recommendations. All five countries visited had very similar issues and problems. All of the workers across the countries have similar needs and the violations of rights are also common across all countries prior to and on arrival in Qatar. 1. Government-to-Government Collaboration All five labour sending countries visited have legislation with specialist ministries and departments dedicated to encourage labour emigration and to protect the welfare of their nationals abroad. Unfortunately, the regulatory frameworks and
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