Qatar expelled foreign workers after protesting unpaid salaries | Abroad

Qatari authorities, who have been regularly criticized by international NGOs for mistreating hundreds of thousands of Asian workers on construction sites in the 2022 World Cup, confirmed that protesters were being held, but declined to say whether some of them had also been expelled from the country. Country.

In a protest on August 14, at least 60 workers, some of whom had not been paid for seven months, blocked traffic outside Al Bandari in Doha, Equidem, a London-based human and labor rights advisory firm, said in Press release.

“We have spoken with some protesting workers and one of them has been deported to Nepal. We confirmed that he has returned to his home country, and others have also been deported from Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Egypt and the Philippines. Equidem CEO Mustafa Qadri said.”

On Sunday, the Qatari government said that “a number of protesters have been arrested for violating public security laws.” “A minority of people who did not demonstrate peacefully and did not act in contravention of public safety laws will be deported by court order,” she added, without providing details on the number of workers involved.

For its part, the Ministry of Labor said that it will pay the salaries of Al-Bandari workers, without going into further details. The ministry also took “actions” against the company, which was already under investigation for non-payment of wages.

The World Cup kicks off in the small, wealthy host nation on November 20th.

Human rights groups have stepped up their campaigns in the run-up to the World Cup, calling for FIFA to pay workers compensation.

However, Doha has defended itself by asserting that it has taken steps to improve conditions for foreign workers, impose a minimum wage, and ban the unfettered force of certain employers preventing their employees from leaving or leaving the country. change jobs.