This report uses Qatar as a case study to examine how the global public health crisis affected destitute migrants in the Middle East and how employers and the government responded...

The report’s central findings are twofold: After a slow start, the government of Qatar provided migrant workers with free, adequate healthcare in response to the pandemic. But foreign laborers suffered economically as a result of construction delays, wage reductions, terminated contracts, and deportations...

The handling of recruitment fees provides an example of how migrant workers in Qatar and the rest of the Middle East continue to be economically exploited. International labor law requires that employers cover costs associated with the recruitment and transportation of foreign workers. Qatari law is more ambiguous, however. In general, it prohibits charging migrant workers for their own recruitment but doesn’t specify that employers should cover these costs...