Doha: Members of a visiting European Parliament delegation have commended Qatar for its extensive labour reforms, transparency and promotion of workers’ rights. The group consisted of senators and parliamentarians from seven European countries.
The visiting group included Lord Hussain Qurban and Manzila Pola, The Rt Hon Baroness Uddin (United Kingdom), Sadrine Michele Anne Marie and Haye Ludovic Pierre (France), Dumitru-Viorel Focsa and Radu-Vincentiu Gradinatu (Romania), Cristiano Anastasi and Giuseppe Auddino (Italy), Tamara Milenković Kerković (Serbia), Petri Juhani Huru and Ville Tapani Tavio (Finland), and Gerard Philip Craughwell (Ireland).
The parliamentarians visited the Ministry of Labour, toured a World Cup stadium, a labour camp, held meetings with the National Human Rights Committee, and met with the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC).
Addressing a press conference yesterday, representatives of the delegation said Qatar has not only passed laws but has also implemented them. They also lauded advances in safety practices, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 preparation, and commitment to continuous implementation of reforms after the tournament.
“During our visit and following our numerous meetings, we saw and noticed a big evolution in human rights and migrant reforms between 2010 and now. We think Qatar is on the right path, and more can be done. The officials answered our questions with transparency and briefed us about the new laws that were passed,” Auddino said.
“The most considerable advancements are removing the Kafala system and the no objection certificate (NOC), putting a minimum wage, and establishing a worker support fund and insurance for the first time. These major reforms are important steps in the right direction. We hope more progress will follow and other countries will follow the same steps,” he added.
Meanwhile, Irish parliamentarian Craughwell said reports in several western media of high mortality rate due to bad practices on construction sites were ‘not true’ because the delegation received accurate statistics from Qatari authorities.
“The word back in the UK and Ireland is that hundreds of workers are dying because of bad practice, and that’s not true. We found that out. We have accurate statistics now, and we must complement all involved to improve working conditions. We did make some recommendations about how things might improve even further, but steps have been taken. There are statistics there, and they’re extremely important.”
