Schlagwort: human rights

Ahead of a court hearing on Monday in Istočno Sarajevo, Amnesty International urges BUK, a hydropower company owned by Belgian-based Green Invest to drop their defamation suits against two local activists who publicly expressed concerns about the potential environmental impact of the company’s small hydropower plants on the Kasindolska river.

Sunčica Kovačević and Sara Tuševljak, the two activists, received the lawsuits after they challenged environmental permits granted to the company, and publicly voiced their concerns about the potential irreparable damage to the river and its surrounding ecosystem. 

The Bosnian company BUK, which is fully owned by Belgian company Green Invest, operates one small hydropower plant and plans to construct two additional ones on the Kasindolska river. Earlier this year, BUK filed three defamation lawsuits against the two activists, seeking 7,500 EURO in damages and threatening further legal action if the activists continue speaking publicly on the issue.

“Time and time again, we have seen how powerful corporations try to intimidate those who speak out against them. When faced with public scrutiny, corporations are increasingly filing untrue or abusive claims to silence critical voices and discourage further debate on matters of public importance. Sunčica and Sara are facing these baseless lawsuits simply because they publicly criticized uncontrolled deforestation and soil erosion that they believed occurred as a result of the construction of these hydropower dams on a river near where they grew up” said Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.

Amnesty International has analysed legal documents and other materials related to the cases and concluded that the lawsuits bear  the hallmarks of Strategic Lawsuits for Public Participation (SLAPPs), including aggressive and disproportionate remedies sought by the corporation and an apparent attempt to exploit their economic and political power to stifle the activists.

“Sunčica and Sara are among a growing number of young activists across BiH and the wider region who are standing up against the seemingly unchecked exploitation of natural resources by large [NM1] multinational companies. They are demanding that the authorities properly assess the long-term risks of these energy projects, consult with the people who are directly impacted by them, and exercise greater oversight over development projects, instead of solely prioritizing profit,” said Eve Geddie.

“To add insult to injury, these unfounded defamation claims come from a company from Belgium who has no stake in the environment or life here. They have not spent their life on this river: they haven’t enjoyed its beauty, nor can they see what the construction of small hydropower plants has done to it and the forest around it. We get the impression that the foreign company  claims more rights to the river than we who were born and live here,” said Sunčica Kovačević, one of the activists. 

“Green Invest and their subsidiary in Bosnia should immediately withdraw these lawsuits, and allow people to freely debate the impact of their hydropower plants on the local community. The authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina must guarantee a safe and enabling environment in which environmental defenders can express their concerns without fear of legal reprisals, including by protecting activists and journalists from this vexatious use of the law,” said Eve Geddie.

Censorious lawsuits a barrier to public participation

SLAPPs are lawsuits that seek to silence or intimidate those who publicly criticize or expose the wrongdoing of those in power, including governments and corporations. SLAPPs  unduly restrict the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association and discourage the public from exposing wrongful conduct by those in power.

SLAPPs usually seek unfounded or disproportionate damages, with the intention of intimidating or silencing critical voices on issues of public interest, such as the environment. SLAPPs are increasingly being used to muzzle the work of human rights defenders and journalists across Europe.

“The lawsuits that Sunčica and Sara are facing fit within a growing trend of powerful corporations and officials misusing the justice system to intimidate human rights defenders and shield themselves from public scrutiny. SLAPPs can have a potentially devastating effect on public debate and create an increasingly hostile environment for anyone who speaks out on issues of public interest, including journalists, human rights defenders and civil society organizations,” said Eve Geddie.

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact alison.abrahams@amnesty.org press@amnesty.org or call +44 (0) 20 7413 5566

Alternatively, contact Lejla Kusturica, ACT | lejla@actbih.org | +387 62 761 833

Background

In an effort to replace its old coal-fired power stations, BiH has embraced the construction of hydropower plants. Encouraged by credits available for renewable projects, national authorities have offered generous subsidies to encourage further investment in the sector.  Laws protecting the environment, however, are either weak or poorly enforced and, combined with weak institutions, this led to the unchecked expansion of projects that prioritize profits over the environment.

Sunčica Kovačević and Sara Tuševljak  raised concerns about the environmental impact of BUK/Green Invest’s hydropower plants in media appearances. Having observed what they believed was excessive deforestation in the protected area and soil erosion associated with the construction of access roads for the hydropower plants, the activists questioned the legality of environmental permits that were issued  to BUK by the authorities.

Sunčica Kovačević and Sara Tuševljak form part of a group of activists and local community members that has been objecting to the construction of small hydropower plants on the Kasindolska river since 2017. The group has organized peaceful protests, press conferences, a civil initiative that gained more than 2,000 signatures against the construction of the small hydropower plants, and a photo exhibition showcasing the river and the anticipated implications of further hydropower construction. Their campaign gained support from the mayors of all three affected municipalities.

SLAPP suits are increasingly perceived as a serious threat to the rights of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Europe. Amnesty International welcomes ongoing efforts at the European Union and the Council of Europe to adopt initiatives to prevent and combat the effects of SLAPPs. These initiatives should set a minimum standard for protection against SLAPPs, such as by ensuring that courts can quicky identify and dismiss unfounded or abusive lawsuits early in the proceedings; prescribe sanctions for litigants who abuse the law with the intention of silencing or intimidating critical voices; and provide procedural safeguards, including free legal assistance and effective remedies to the victims of SLAPP suits.

Over 140 national and international organisations have recently expressed their support for Sunčica Kovačević and Sara Tuševljak and their concerns over the baseless defamation lawsuits in an open letter to the Belgian Ambassador to BiH and the Head of the European Union Delegation in the country.

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Two years after the #EndSARS protests, over 40 protesters are still languishing in prisons across Nigeria, Amnesty International said today, while panels set up to investigate police impunity have failed to deliver justice to hundreds of victims of police brutality. 

Amnesty International has found that the vast majority of #EndSARS protesters arrested in October 2020 are still being arbitrarily detained without trial.   

The fact that nobody has been brought to justice over the torture and killings of #EndSARS protesters is a stain on Nigeria’s human rights records. Meanwhile, human rights violations by the police continue unabated. The authorities must ensure that suspected perpetrators of the deadly crackdown on #EndSARS protesters are brought to justice in fair trials and address impunity for police brutality.

Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria

“Two years ago, the Nigerian army and police killed at least 12 people at Lekki toll Gate and in Alausa, Lagos State, while pro-government armed groups deliberately instigated violence at many #EndSARS demonstrations in other parts of the country to serve as a pretext for the police to use of lethal force on peaceful protesters. Rather than bringing those responsible for the attacks on protesters to justice, the authorities have engaged in a series of bizarre denials and cover-ups.”   

Since the #EndSARS protests, many people who have attempted to exercise their right to peaceful protest have repeatedly faced threats, harassment, and intimidation. 

Prolonged detention without trial 

Oyewole Olumide, Rasheed Tiamiyu, Moruf Adekunle, Taoreed Abiodun, Ikenna Amechi, Afeez Ariyo, Ikechukwu Eze, and Adesina Ademuyiwa were among those arrested in Ibadan for participating in #EndSARS protests in October 2020. Despite reportedly suffering from ill health, they continue to be held without trial in Agodi Correctional Centre, having previously been detained at a SARS facility in Ibadan and Abolongo Prison in Oyo Town. 

Ayodeji Oluwasegun, Andoh Immanuel, Yakubu Olayiwola, Olaogun Ismail, Uba Chukwuma, Dosunmu Taiwo, Daniel Joy-Igbo, Yusuf Rafiu, Olawale Marcus, Muyiwa Onikoyi, Shehu Anas, Suleman Saidu, Rasheed Wasiu Bolaji, Adigun Sodiq, Sunday Okoro, Akiniran Oyetakin, Ogidi Isah, Ibrahim Adesanya, and Faruk Abdulquadri have also been detained without trial in Kirikiri Medium Security Prison in Lagos since 2020. 

The Nigerian authorities have attempted to justify the ongoing detention of #EndSARS protesters by resorting to trumped-up charges including theft, arson, possession of unlawful firearms, and murder. 

A further twenty-one #EndSARS protesters were held incommunicado for 15 months at Afaraukwu Correctional Service in Umuahia in Abia state for participating in the protests. On Friday 4 February 2022, they were released without charge following an intervention by Amnesty International. 

“They called us into their torture room one after another“

Many #EndSARS protesters told Amnesty International that they were tortured while in detention. Police abuse occurred in detention centers in police stations and other holding facilities and inside police vehicles. Several cases amount to torture and other ill-treatment.  

One of the protesters told Amnesty International: “In Umuahia, at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), they called us into their torture room one after another. When I entered, they tied my hands to the iron bars on the window so I couldn’t fight them, and then they started flogging my ankle with a rod, and also my knee…” 

“Since I didn’t do anything,” the protester added, “I maintained my innocence while they tortured me. I remembered my late wife and got angry. I told them it was better for them to kill me than to admit something I did not do. Then the man said they would release me, but when they did, I could not walk, so I just fell and the officers dragged me out of the room. Then they took another person into the torture room. In the process of torturing us, they killed one of the protesters they brought in with us from Eziama police station.” 

A 21-year-old student of Abia State Polytechnic, who was among more than 20 protesters arrested on 20 October 2020 in Waterside in Ogbor Hill, Abia state, told Amnesty International: 

When I arrived at the criminal investigation department, they started asking us why we were protesting against the police. Some of us said we were fighting for our rights. Then the police said they would kill us for going out to protest. They removed our clothes… and started flogging us. I still have some of the injuries I sustained, I still get pains from them. They were flogging us everywhere. I was bending my head to protect my eyes. We suffered there.

“They removed my shirt and blindfolded my eyes with it,” the student added. “When we got to Eziama Police Station, they asked my age. I told them I was 16, but I was 15 then. They slapped me twice and beat me with sticks for joining the protest. Then they said they would put me in a separate cell. They kept us in the cell and brought us out the next day to beat us again.” 

Many of those interviewed said they had suffered from health issues as a result of the torture they faced and the inhuman conditions they were kept in detention. All released detainees interviewed by Amnesty International said the authorities had not returned their phones, cash, and other valuables which were taken from them after the protests. 

Investigative panels fail to deliver justice for victims 

Investigative panels set up to investigate police brutality have been marred by prolonged adjournments, intimidation of witnesses by police lawyers, and police officers failing to appear as witnesses, according to observer reports verified by Amnesty International. In some states, panels have failed to take place at all, while others opted to go on break indefinitely. 

“Authorities must end the crackdown on peaceful protests, and promptly, thoroughly, independently, impartially, and transparently investigate cases of attacks on peaceful protests and bring suspected perpetrators to justice. 

The lack of progress at these #EndSARS panels is discouraging and reveals the authorities’ lack of commitment to ensure justice for victims of police brutality across Nigeria,” said Osai Ojigho. 

“All detained protesters must be immediately and unconditionally released. The Nigerian authorities must urgently respect, protect, promote and fulfill the right to peaceful protest including by publicly directing security and law enforcement agencies to stop infringing on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Authorities should also ensure that victims of police brutality and their families are provided with access to justice and effective remedies, including adequate compensation, and guarantee of non-repetition.”

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Authorities in Angola must account for the whereabouts of a five-year-old boy who went missing after police raided the Mucubai Community in Ndamba area in the outskirts of the city of Moçâmedes, the capital of Namibe Province in which 16 houses were torched and personal belongings including blankets, clothes and water containers set alight, Amnesty International said today.

Mbapamuhuka Caçador’s disappearance amounts to enforced disappearance, a crime under international law.

Muleya Mwananyanda, Director for East and Southern Africa

Five-year-old Mbapamuhuka Caçador disappeared following the raid on 12 October by Rapid Intervention Police, which was sparked by a land dispute. Residents fear the boy may have been burned alive in one of the houses attacked by police as they unleashed violence on the community.

“Mbapamuhuka Caçador’s disappearance in Ndamba, following the raid by the police, amounts to enforced disappearance, a crime under international law. Angolan authorities must leave no stone unturned in ensuring his safe return,” said Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa.

“It is also deeply disturbing that the police were deployed with such force and brutality to resolve a domestic matter. Police have a duty to protect rather than terrorize people.”

It is also deeply disturbing that the police were deployed with such force and brutality to resolve a domestic matter

Muleya Mwananyanda

“Authorities must promptly, thoroughly, impartially, independently and transparently investigate the circumstances leading to Mbapamuhuka Caçador’s disappearance, make public the outcome of any investigation, and bring to justice in fair trial anyone suspected to be responsible. Authorities must provide the victim with access to justice and effective remedies.”

Police unleash violence against community

The raid was led by the son of Sr. Cunha, the former (deceased) Provincial Chief of Police in Namibe province, southern Angola. The attack was carried out on behalf of Cunha’s widow, Antonia Fernanda, as part of a campaign to forcibly annex Mucubai community land adjacent to her commercial farm.

Authorities must halt the forced eviction of the Mucubai community from their land and ensure that their welfare and livelihoods are secured

Muleya Mwananyanda

“Authorities must halt the forced eviction of the Mucubai community from their land and ensure that their welfare and livelihoods are secured,” said Muleya Mwananyanda.

Residents and witnesses said police arrived in Ndamba in the afternoon to raid and burn houses, including all the contents inside such as blankets, bed sheets, mattresses, clothes, shoes, food and water containers. The police also destroyed vegetable gardens and killed livestock belonging to members of the Mucubai ethnic minority group.

Five people were detained before they were released on 13 October without being charged. They were named as: Jose Mbapiluka, Mbakahako Muandjissamo, Mukamuavia Mbakahako, Tchimupepa and Zacarias. Mbakahako was forced by police to inhale a toxic gas which caused him to faint. While unconscious, the police handcuffed him and threw him in a police car.

Background

Forced evictions of rural communities such as this are widespread in Angola, particularly in the south where powerful individuals connected to the MPLA, the ruling party, have grabbed the communal grazing lands of the traditional pastoralists, aggravating their vulnerability especially in relation to food and water insecurity. The Mucubai are an economically, socially and politically marginalized and oppressed minority group in southern Angola.

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The Egyptian authorities are holding state critics and political opponents in cruel and inhuman conditions in Badr 3 Prison, Amnesty International said today, as Egypt prepares to host COP27, the annual UN Climate Change Conference, in Sharm El-Sheikh in November.

In Badr 3 Prison, located 70 kilometres to the northeast of Cairo, prisoners are held in horrific and punitive conditions comparable to or even worse than those consistently documented at Egypt’s notorious Tora Prison Complex.  Detainees shiver in cold cells with fluorescent lights switched on round the clock; CCTV cameras are trained on them at all hours; and access to basic necessities such as sufficient food, clothing and books is banned. They are denied any contact with their families or lawyers and detention renewal hearings are held online. There has been at least one death in custody since the prison was opened in mid-2022.

“The Badr Prison Complex opened to great fanfare by the authorities, as if the new facility signified an improvement to Egypt’s human rights record. Instead, prisoners are facing the same human rights violations that have repeatedly blighted older institutions, exposing the lack of a political will from the Egyptian authorities to bring an end to the human rights crisis in the country,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“Ahead of COP27, Egypt’s PR machine is operating on all cylinders to conceal the awful reality in the country’s jails, where prisoners held for political reasons are languishing in horrific conditions violating the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment. But no amount of PR can hide the country’s abysmal human rights record that demands real reform from the government.”

Amnesty International has gathered evidence from relatives and lawyers of prisoners held for political reasons, all of whom were transferred to Badr 3 from Tora Maximum Security 1 and 2 prisons in mid-2022. Several prisoners are being held in violation of Egyptian law, as their pretrial detention has extended beyond legal limits, while scores are detained arbitrarily following grossly unfair trials.

‘Prisoners here have no rights’

Concerns over prison conditions and access to healthcare intensified following the death in custody of El-Sayed al-Sayfi on 5 October. Al-Sayfi, who was 61 years old and had cancer prior to his arrest, died within days of being transferred to Badr 3 after a prosecutor ordered his pretrial detention. So far, there has been no independent and impartial investigation into the causes and circumstances of his death, including into reports on the lack of access to adequate healthcare in Badr 3.

The Egyptian authorities have imposed a blanket ban on family visits for all detainees in Badr 3, many of whom had already been denied family visits for over five years while held in the Tora Prison Complex. Prison staff also bar prisoners from sending letters to their families or loved ones, or even receiving them, effectively subjecting them to incommunicado detention.

No amount of PR can hide the country’s abysmal human rights record that demands real reform from the government.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International

Anas Beltagy, 29, has been arbitrarily detained since December 2013 despite being acquitted of all crimes in three separate criminal cases and a judicial order for his release pending investigations in a fourth case. However, the authorities never released him. Instead, he is now detained pending investigations over identical charges in relation to a fifth case. His family has been deprived of all communication with him since 2018 and all his detention renewal hearings have taken place online since his transfer to Badr 3, further blocking his family and lawyer from any access. Amnesty International calls for his immediate release as he is being held solely for his family connections; his father Mohamed al-Beltagy is a senior figure of the Muslim Brotherhood and was sentenced to death in an unfair trial.

Another detainee in Badr 3 said he was kept under constant surveillance, including during visits to the bathroom where guards taunted him for taking too long. Others said the use of constant fluorescent overhead lights affected their sleep and mental health, which directly contravenes the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and the absolute prohibition on torture and other ill-treatment.

Prisoners often rely on their families to meet their basic needs. However, Badr 3 prison officials prevent relatives from delivering food, clothing and items for personal hygiene. One relative of a Badr 3 detainee told Amnesty International that she tried to deliver clothes, books and food to the facility, but was told by guards that such items were not permitted. When she told prison officials that prisoners have a right to receive them, they said “prisoners here have no rights”.

The lack of family visits and communication means relatives cannot be sure their loved ones even receive medicine they have delivered. Amnesty International learned that prison officials withheld medicine from at least one prisoner after accepting the delivery from his relatives.

The authorities have also established a new online system for detention renewals hearings, with detainees not physically present in the same courtroom as judges, lawyers and prosecutors. Such hearings violate fair trial rights including the rights to adequate defence and to meaningfully challenge the legality of their detention. They take place under coercive circumstances in the presence of prison guards and detainees are prevented from communicating with their lawyers, given the ban on lawyer visits to prison. Further, they expose detainees to risks of reprisals from guards for complaining about torture or other ill-treatment and impede the ability of judges to spot visible bruises or other injuries.

“The Egyptian authorities must immediately release all those arbitrarily detained.  Everyone detained in Egypt must be protected from torture and other ill-treatment, held in conditions in line with international law and standards and granted immediate access to their families and lawyers with sufficient privacy. The authorities must fully uphold fair trial rights and stop holding pretrial detention renewal hearings online,” said Agnès Callamard.

Background

The Badr and Wadi al-Natrun prison complexes were opened shortly after the authorities launched Egypt’s National Human Rights Strategy in September 2021, which hailed the authorities’ purported efforts at modernizing prisons and upholding prisoners’ dignity. In mid-2022, the authorities started relocating prisoners from the ill-reputed Tora Prison Complex into the new facilities.

COP27, the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference, will be held from 6 to 18 November in Sharm El- Sheikh.

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The Qatari authorities must re-commit to fully delivering on promised labour reforms now and beyond the World Cup, Amnesty International said today, as its final pre-tournament briefing on migrant workers’ conditions revealed that abuses remain rife across the country. With just one month until kick-off, the human rights organization again reiterated its call on FIFA and Qatar to establish a compensation fund for abused migrant workers. 

Qatar’s overhaul of its labour system since 2017 has led to some noticeable improvements for the country’s two million migrant workers – hundreds of thousands of whom have been engaged in projects essential to the World Cup. However, a lack of effective implementation and enforcement continues to undermine their impact on migrant workers. Thousands of workers across all projects are still facing issues such as delayed or unpaid wages, denial of rest days, unsafe working conditions, barriers to changing jobs, and limited access to justice, while the deaths of thousands of workers remain uninvestigated. 

“Although Qatar has made important strides on labour rights over the past five years, it’s abundantly clear that there is a great distance still to go. Thousands of workers remain stuck in the familiar cycle of exploitation and abuse thanks to legal loopholes and inadequate enforcement,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice. 

With the World Cup looming, the job of protecting migrant workers from exploitation is only half done, while that of compensating those who have suffered abuses has barely started

Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice

“With the World Cup looming, the job of protecting migrant workers from exploitation is only half done, while that of compensating those who have suffered abuses has barely started. It’s also imperative that Qatar commits to improving conditions in the long term. Progress must not grind to a halt once the World Cup roadshow leaves Doha.” Last month, a global poll commissioned by Amnesty International revealed overwhelming support among both the general public and football fans for the compensation of migrant workers who suffered during preparations for the 2022 World Cup. The findings back the #PayUpFIFA campaign launched by a coalition of human rights organizations—including Amnesty International—fans groups and trade unions in May 2022, which calls on FIFA and the Qatari authorities to establish a comprehensive remediation programme to compensate workers and prevent future abuses.  

“Despite huge and growing support in favour of compensating migrant workers among fans, football associations, and sponsors, Qatar and FIFA are still not budging. With only a month to go, time is fast running out for them to do the right thing,” said Steve Cockburn.   

“Turning a blind eye to the abuses suffered by thousands of migrant workers over the years flies in the face of their respective international obligations and responsibilities. They must come together to ensure that those who suffered so much to make this tournament possible are not left behind.”  

Reforms enacted by Qatar since 2017 include a law regulating working conditions for live-in domestic workers, labour tribunals to facilitate access to justice, a fund to support payment of unpaid wages, and a minimum wage. Qatar has also ratified two key international human rights treaties, albeit without recognizing the right of migrant workers to join a trade union. Qatar’s World Cup organizing body, the Supreme Committee, also introduced enhanced labour standards for workers, but only on official tournament sites such as stadia, although these cover just a small proportion of workers on projects essential to the World Cup, and just 2% of Qatar’s workforce. 

Despite huge and growing support in favour of compensating migrant workers among fans, football associations, and sponsors, Qatar and FIFA are still not budging

Steve Cockburn

While recognising the importance of these reforms, Amnesty’s briefing provides an action plan to address ongoing failings across ten areas. To this end, the organization urges the Qatari authorities to enforce and strengthen labour protections, empower workers, make work pay, and guarantee access to justice and remedy.  

Forced labour and unexplained deaths 

Migrant workers on both World Cup and non-World Cup related projects continue to face abuses on a significant scale in Qatar. Many workers, particularly in the domestic and security sectors, continue to be subjected to conditions that amount to forced labour, with domestic workers still typically working between 14 and 18 hours a day without a weekly day off, isolated in private homes.  

Security guards are often also repeatedly denied their rest days and forced to work under the threat of penalties, such as having their salaries arbitrarily deducted or sometimes their passports confiscated, despite such practices being in violation of Qatari law. Joshua,* a private security worker from Kenya who recently left Qatar before the end of his contract due to the working conditions, told Amnesty International:   

“It was unbearable to stay on in the company I was in due to the treatment and overload of work. In four months, you get just two days off. There’s late salaries and too many fines deducted unnecessarily…The company has withheld my visa such that I can’t go back [to Qatar] if I get a job with another company.” 

The deaths of thousands of migrant workers over the past decade and beyond—on World Cup-related projects or otherwise—remain unexplained. At least hundreds of these fatalities were likely a consequence of working in the extreme heat. New heat legislation is an improvement but must be strengthened to bring it into line with international standards and adequately protect outdoor workers. Despite clear evidence that heat stress poses a huge risk to health, the Qatari authorities have done little to investigate, certify or remedy migrant workers’ deaths, contrary to international best practice. 

It was unbearable to stay on in the company I was in due to the treatment and overload of work

*Joshua, private security worker

It is not just the devastating emotional impact on victims’ families but also the loss of a family’s main breadwinner coupled with the lack of financial compensation that leaves many in even deeper poverty. Bhumisara,* whose husband’s death in Qatar remains unexplained, told Amnesty:  

“Now everything is shattered… Life itself has become like a broken mirror…I have cried many times in emotion. Being alone is very difficult…I feel like I’m burning in oil.”  

Migrant workers remain unable to form or join trade unions in Qatar, contrary to their fundamental right under international law to do so. Instead, Joint Committees formed and led by employers, cover only 2% of the workforce. These committees provide workers with some representation, yet remain beset with serious flaws, as they lack mechanisms for collective bargaining and fail to provide workers with crucial legal protections. 

Extortionate recruitment fees and elements of kafala remain 

The payment by prospective migrant workers of extortionate recruitment fees to secure jobs in Qatar remains rampant. Fees of between US$1,000 and US$3,000 leave many workers needing months or even years to repay the debt, trapping them in cycles of exploitation.  While workers on some World Cup projects under the purview of the Supreme Committee, Qatar’s tournament organizers, are able to claim some reimbursement of these fees, this option is unavailable to the vast majority of workers in the country. 

Crucial changes to the kafala system—which made workers entirely dependent on their employer—mean the vast majority of migrant workers are now legally able to leave the country and change jobs without permission. Migrant workers, however, still risk being arrested or deported if their employers cancel their visas, fail to renew their residence permit or report them as having ‘absconded’ from their job.  

Despite the government saying that it approved more than 300,000 migrant worker job transfer applications since October 2020, Amnesty International has documented several cases over recent months in which unscrupulous employers used their powers to cancel visas, renew residence permits and report workers for ‘absconding’ to exploit and punish those who complained about working conditions or wanted to change jobs. For instance, in one case, Geoffrey*, a delivery driver who complained to the Ministry of Labour about withheld wages and a lack of food and sanitary accommodation, was detained by police on “runaway” charges and held for three weeks. 

Background 

*Real names not used 

The briefing, Unfinished Business: Roadmap for Qatar to fulfil promises on migrant workers’ rights, is available here. 

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