QATAR ENACTS IMPORTANT NEW LAW CRIMINALIZING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000199

SIPDIS

DHAKA FOR P/E

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ELAB KTIP QA
SUBJECT: QATAR ENACTS IMPORTANT NEW LAW CRIMINALIZING
PRACTICES COMMONLY USED TO TRAFFIC FOREIGN LABORERS, A KEY
TIP ISSUE

Classified By: Ambassador Joseph E. LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b and d).

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(SBU) KEY POINTS
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-- On February 28, Qatar enacted a new law regulating the
entry, exit, residence, and sponsorship of expatriate
workers.

-- The new law also contains a tough penalties provision,
under which sponsors face prison sentences if they employ
workers in the country illegally or those not under their
sponsorship. The law also stiffens penalties for those
expatriates illegally present in the country.

-- Under the new law, both domestic servants and laborers
may petition the Ministry of Interior (MOI) for transfer of
their sponsorships in cases of abuse by the sponsor.

-- The new law criminalizes the widespread practice of
confiscating the passports of expatriate workers, but those
workers must still obtain an exit permit. A court may grant
the exit permit over the objection of the sponsor, but only
after a lengthy process. This provision applies equally to
domestic servants and laborers.

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(C) COMMENTS AND ANALYSIS
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-- For the first time, Qatari law specifically criminalizes
practices commonly used to traffic foreign laborers. While
this is not an anti-TIP law, and it does not pretend
specifically to criminalize all acts of human trafficking, it
does hold to account sponsors, including Qataris, for certain
practices frequently associated with TIP.

-- In this sense, it goes beyond the general, existing laws
against kidnapping, rape, and involuntary servitude.
Specifically, it targets one of the most common methods of
labor exploitation: the practice of forcing workers into
other employment against their will.

-- One of the main criticisms of current Qatari labor laws
is that they do not afford protections to domestic workers,
one of the populations most vulnerable to TIP victimization.
To the extent that the new sponsorship law blurs the legal
distinction between laborers and domestic servants, and in
the process broadens protections for the latter, this is a
very welcome development. While it will be very difficult
for domestic servants under the new law to prove abuse, the
employers are nonetheless put on notice that their actions
may have legal consequences.

-- While the provision outlawing the confiscation of
passports is clearly insufficent, given the fact that the
exit permit system remains largely intact, this is a
necessary step in the right direction. By putting in place a
system under which a worker may appeal to a court for the
right to leave the country, the worker is no longer strictly
at the mercy of the employer. This introduction of an
onerous judicial alternative is preferable to a system that
leaves potential traffickers with unfettered discretion.

-- The penalty for illegal presence is the most
disappointing part of the new law. Workers fleeing
exploitation, or in illegal status through the fault of the
employer, face prison and stiff fines. Against the spirit of
the new law, employers can still use their employees' illegal
status as a means to intimidate and exploit them.

-- Like all laws, the test of this one will lie in its
enforcement. Whether Qataris and their agents will abide by
the law, and whether Qatari authorities will prosecute them
if they do not, remains to be seen. In the past, the
authorities have been reluctant to apply existing laws in the
TIP context. Now they have a specific, though incomplete and
imperfect, tool at their disposal -- if only they will use
it.

End Key Points, Comments, and Analysis.


1. (SBU) On February 28, Crown Prince Tamim bin Hamad Al
Thani signed the long-awaited Sponsorship Law. The law makes

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changes to entry, exit, residence, and sponsorship
procedures, though administrative regulations must still be
adopted before the law can be enforced. The reaction to the
long-awaited law was mixed. Dr. Ali Al- Marri, Chairman of
the National Human Rights Committee, issued a statement
calling the law an important step forward in the ongoing
Qatari fight against TIP. Less optimistic was Cristina
Marinas, an activist in the Filipino expatriate community,
who called the new law "a slight improvement." She told
Poloff Caudill in a March 11 conversation that she and other
Filipino workers would meet with the labor attache at the
Filipino Embassy to discuss what that community might expect
as a result of the new law.


2. (U) Under the new law, employers found guilty of employing
a worker not under their sponsorship face a prison sentence
of up to three years and a fine of up to 50,000 Qatari riyals
(USD 13,735). By including this provision, authorities hope
to reduce one of the most common methods of TIP, by which
unscrupulous sponsors bait workers with promises of jobs,
then inform them upon their arrival that those jobs do not
exist. Faced with the prospect of returning to their homes
in disgrace, often after having paid an illegal visa broker
in his home country for a valid Qatari work visa, the worker
is offered substitute employment. If he agrees, the sponsor
sells the worker's labor to another employer at a low wage
and under harsh conditions. The worker must pay the original
sponsor of record to renew his work visa annually. Under the
new law, the second employer would face prosecution and
imprisonment for employing the trafficked worker. Nepalese
labor attache Brem Baral told Poloff Caudill on March 19 that
this provision, if enforced, would reduce the number of
trafficked laborers.


3. (U) The Sponsorship Law specifically criminalizes the
widespread practice of confiscating workers' passports. A
sponsor found guilty of passport confiscation faces a fine of
up to 10,000 Qatari riyals (USD 2,747). The impact of this
provision is virtually negated, however, by the retention of
the requirement that a worker obtain an exit permit in order
to leave the country. The new law, does, however, allow for
an alternative means of obtaining such a permit if the
sponsor refuses, dies, or is absent from the country. Under
this laborious procedure, the worker may secure an exit
permit from a court after presenting a certificate stating
that he has no criminal or civil cases pending against him,
and having secured a substitute sponsor who agrees to cover
his outstanding debts. In spite of its shortcomings, Riyadi
Asirdin, Indonesian labor attache in Doha, told Poloff
Caudill on March 19 that the prohibition on passport
confiscation was a positive development, since abused
housemaids could flee to safety without having to first beg
their abusive employers for the return of their passports.


4. (U) The new law mandates that sponsors present their
employees to immigration officials within seven days of their
arrival for medical screening and in-processing. If the
employers do not do so, they may be fined up to 10,000 Qatari
riyals (USD 2,747). Those employees who do not complete the
in-processing lapse into illegal status. Under the new law,
any worker illegally in the country faces a maximum prison
sentence of three years and a fine not to exceed 50,000
riyals (USD 13,735).
LeBaron