Although Qatar’s historic labour reforms have benefited hundreds of thousands of workers, more urgent effort is needed to hold employers accountable and ensure job mobility, Kenyan workers in Qatar told Doha News.
Kate*, originally from Kenya, moved to Qatar from Saudi Arabia in 2021 to work as a cleaner. She used all her savings from her previous job as a caregiver to pay a recruitment agency that promised her working conditions in Qatar would be better than what she faced in the neighbouring kingdom.
“I had experienced a lot of abuse in my previous job in Saudi, and I hoped conditions for domestic workers in Qatar would be better since I heard that Kafala had been removed,” Kate recalls, reminiscing Doha’s historic 2020 labour reforms, which made Qatar the first country in the Arab Gulf region to terminate the exploitative Kafala system.
The 35-year-old was also overjoyed because her employment contract promised a QAR 1,000 monthly salary and a QAR 300 food stipend, as well as free housing and overtime pay.
However, her expectations were immediately crushed upon her arrival in Doha in October 2021.
Kate said her passport was confiscated the first night she arrived at the cleaner company’s accommodation. According to Qatar’s 2020 labour laws, passport confiscation is illegal since it could be an indicator of forced labour and human trafficking.
Despite this, Kate’s employer took her passport by force. This was the first of many hurdles that were soon to follow.
In the first month, her employer delayed her salary, and when she was eventually paid, she was only given half of her pay (QAR 500). For the next two months, nothing changed. The fourth month, the company said it had no work for her, which meant no payment.
Kate said her employer paid her 50% less than her original salary for the three months she spent cleaning houses of different customers, in most cases for nine hours per day.
After five months, she finally found another company that was willing to employ her. Under Qatar’s 202o new labour reforms, workers don’t need a No Objection Certificate( NOCs) from their current employers to transfer jobs.
This means that migrant workers can now change jobs at any time during their employment, including during their probation period, as long as they notify their employers in accordance with ministry procedures and within a specified notice period.
This allowed Kate to apply for a sponsorship transfer through the Ministry of Labour’s online application without altering her boss, who had previously made it clear he did not want her to work somewhere else.
Her application was rejected for the first time in May 2022. She applied the next month, and her application was finally approved. She was given a notice period of 14 days before transferring to her new employer.
However, on the 13th day, her last day with the company, she said her employer angrily barged into the accommodation, banged on her door, and told her to revoke her transfer. He threatened he would lock her up if she didn’t comply, but she still refused.
“He told me he was going to handle it the hard way,” she recalls.
The next day, she got a cancellation text from the labour ministry, informing her that her request to change jobs had been revoked, with no explanation.
“I don’t know what he [company manager] told the labour office. It’s either he knows someone there who can easily do what he wants or he lied and told them I tried to run away,” Kate told Doha News.
Since then, she has been stuck with the company, barely working. Every application she submitted to the ministry to change jobs since June 2022 has been rejected, with no explanation.
In total, the company currently owes Kate QAR 4,200 in wages. Her Qatar residency ID has been expired since October 2022, and her employer has not renewed it.
Migrant workers in Qatar cannot request or renew their residence permits on their own; this is the responsibility of the sponsor, according to the law. However, if the employer fails to renew the permit on time, the worker risks facing arrest, detention, and deportation, limiting their freedom of movement.
“Even if I wanted to run away, I would not be able to without my passport. My residency permit has expired. If I get caught, I will immediately be deported. I feel stuck. I and other Kenyan girls here are suffering. We don’t know what to do,” Kate told Doha News.
Kate and her coworkers from the same company applied for job transfers multiple times and were turned down, leaving them with unpaid wages, inadequate housing conditions, and an employer who abuses them – sometimes physically.
“I am living with six other Kenyan girls in one room in our employment accommodation. There is no space to breathe. We have nowhere to put food plates so we just put them under the bed. When one of us cries at night, we all cry together. We are not okay,” she told Doha News, adding that she and some of her colleagues are currently struggling with depression and suicidal ideation.
“My mother back home [in Kenya] has diabetes and she takes care of my kids. I am the only child she has left. She is currently sick and I haven’t sent money in a while. This depresses me more and makes me sad because if she passes away suddenly, who would take care of my kids?”
Lingering remains of the Kafala system
Kate’s story is among many that illustrate the struggles workers in Qatar still experience when trying to change jobs, despite protective laws and reforms.
Since winning the bid to host the World Cup in 2010, Qatar has found itself under the international spotlight, with waves of scrutiny over labour exploitation of migrant workers and lack of adequate laws to protect them, prompting Doha to take the lead in implementing changes.
In August 2020, Qatar became the first country in the region to terminate the Kafala system.
In the two years since these reforms were implemented, the International Labor Organization(ILO), reported that Qatar’s labour ministry has authorised nearly 350,000 applications from migrant workers seeking to change their occupations, according to ILO’s 2022 report.
The law requesting NOCs to change jobs had previously allowed several workers to be exploited and caused an unequal power balance between workers and their employers, according to rights activists.
However, despite the amendment of the law, some private companies reportedly continue to request NOCs and employers refuse to provide any when asked.
“It’s clear from a number of job advertisements that some companies hiring workers locally are requiring NOCs from the previous employer,” ILO told Doha News in a statement.
“However, this is not a legal requirement and is not part of the application process on the Ministry of Labour( MOL) website. There can be a letter from the employer submitted with the application indicating that both parties agree to waive the notice period,” the statement read.
Doha News spoke to workers, including Kate, who claimed that sponsorship applications without NOCs are oftentimes rejected by the ministry.
This has been the case for Monica*, a 25 year old security guard from Kenya, who has applied six times to change her sponsorship over the past two years, but got rejected.
Monica moved to Qatar in 2018. Initially, she wanted a job in hospitality since she has a college degree in hospitality management, but the recruitment agency she used in Kenya told her the only available jobs were in security at that time.
She decided to take a leap of faith, hoping to transfer to another company at some point in the near future. For the past five years, she has been working for the same company, earning the same salary of QAR 1,300, with no bonuses.
“Being a female security guard is already hard enough since this is a very male dominated industry, but it is even harder when you are Black and Kenyan,” she claimed.
“There is no growth here,” she told Doha News.
Monica found a job and a hotel in hospitality that was willing to hire her but her employer refused to let her go or give her an NOC.
Migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, as well as the Philippines and African countries such as Kenya and Uganda, make up more than 80% of Qatar’s 2.8 million population.
Kenyans working in Qatar alone account for at least one percent of Qatar’s population as of 2019, with an estimated 30,000.
Even though Monica is convinced her transfer application is rejected because her employer keeps refusing to let her go, ILO told Doha News that there are other instances in which the ministry might reject employment change applications.
This includes new employers being barred from hiring workers due to noncompliance with the law or a lack of necessary permits; errors in the submission or incomplete documentation; or workers cancelling their applications (after finding other jobs or agreeing to stay with their current employer), ILO said.
“In some cases, employers invoke Law No. 18 of 2020 (on termination of employment) to block job transfers on the grounds that workers are moving to direct competitors,” ILO statement added.
In a separate statement to Doha News, the Qatari government encouraged workers to file complaints through the ministry of labour if they believe their rights are being violated by their employers.
“Complaints can be lodged anonymously via the Unified Platform for Complaints and Whistleblowers’ 24/7 hotline service, the Amerni app, or self-service machines available in multiple languages throughout the country. Alternatively, workers can visit the Labour Department and lodge their complaints in person,” the statement to Doha News read.
When violations are found, companies are investigated and may face financial and operational penalties. Non-payment of wages carries a maximum prison sentence of one year and a maximum fine of QAR 10,000 per case, according to the law.
“All penalties are handed down through the courts. Companies are routinely shut down, blacklisted, and denied access to the Ministry of Labour’s services for violating the labour law,” the Qatari official said.
‘I just want them to be fair’
Following years of international pressure, the Qatari government signed an agreement with ILO in 2017, promising to combat widespread labour exploitation and “align its laws and practices with international labour standards.”
Since then, ILO and other international Human rights organisations have been working alongside the Qatari government to support labour reforms, including the introduction of a non-discriminatory minimum wage and ‘removal’ of NOC to support job mobility.
The Qatari government’s statement to Doha News reiterated that the Gulf state is committed to implementing labour reforms and ensuring long-term changes post-World Cup.
“Qatar continues to ensure the overhaul of our labour system is part of our World Cup legacy. Systemic change is a long-term process, and all companies operating in Qatar have a responsibility to comply with the new laws,” the Qatari official told Doha News.
Despite this, the ILO admits that although hundreds of thousands of workers have already benefited from ongoing reforms, more urgent efforts are still needed to implement laws.
“We know there are gaps in implementation of this legislation, which is not surprising given the magnitude of the change. Our top priority is to support the effective application of these laws, in the interest of workers and employers,” ILO told Doha News.
The labour rights organisation also added that there is a need for more clarity and communication to educate workers and employers about employment law and procedures.
In the statement, authorities pointed to dishonest employers.
“There are instances of retaliation by some unscrupulous employers against workers who wish to change jobs (e.g. by cancelling their residency permits or filing false absconding charges against them). In response, the government is taking measures to prevent abusive practices, with individual cases and systematically,” the statement added.
The most vulnerable group in Qatar is the 160,000 domestic workers, 60% of whom are women, who still struggle to exercise their rights despite being protected by Law No. 15 of 2017, ILO’s 2022 report revealed.
Recent reports by rights groups found that female migrant workers in Qatar face the most excruciating working conditions and, in many cases, are subjected to abuse, including serious crimes of physical and sexual assault.
For both Monica and Kate, more urgent efforts are needed to hold employers accountable, prevent discrimination, and protect domestic workers.
“I just want them to be fair. We all came here to get better opportunities. We are human beings. We don’t want to be treated as less of a human. We need equal opportunities for everyone. We [Kenyans] are participating in the economy like everyone else and should be treated with respect,” Monica said.
* Names have been changed or omitted to protect identities.
