With just one year to go until the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar, time is running out for the authorities in the Gulf state to deliver on promises to abolish the abusive “kafala” sponsorship system and better protect huge numbers of migrant workers, Amnesty International said today.

In its 48-page report - “Reality Check 2021” - assessing Qatar’s progress in overhauling its exploitative labour system, Amnesty found that progress has stagnated over the last year and old abusive practices have resurfaced, reviving the worst elements of kafala and undermining recent reforms.

The daily reality for many migrant workers in the country remains harsh, despite legal changes introduced since 2017. Amid mounting scrutiny of Qatar’s human rights record as the World Cup approaches, Amnesty is calling on the Qatari authorities to take urgent action to ramp up the reform process before it is too late. 

By August last year, Qatar had passed two laws to end restrictions on migrant workers leaving the country or changing jobs without their employer’s permission. Properly enforced, these had the potential to remedy the kafala system - which binds migrant workers to their employer - but workers told Amnesty they still face significant hurdles in changing jobs and pushback from disgruntled bosses.