Human Rights in Qatar

From the US Dept. of State's 207 Annual Report on Human Rights in Qatar - this says it all: "The rights of foreign workers continued to be severely restricted. Some employers mistreated foreign domestic servants, predominantly those from South Asia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Such mistreatment generally involved the nonpayment or late payment of wages and in some cases involved rape and physical abuse. Some foreign embassies provided temporary shelter for 48 hours to their nationals who left their employers as a result of abuse or disputes before transferring the case to local government officials. According to their embassies, the majority of cases were resolved within 48 hours. Those not resolved within 48 hours were transferred to the Criminal Evidence and Investigation Department of the MOI for a maximum of seven days. Cases not resolved within seven days were transferred to the labor court, a special section of the first instance civil court.
During the year the embassies of India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka received a combined total of more than 15,000 complaints from male and female workers alleging mistreatment by their employers. The Nepalese Embassy reported that they received 10 to 11 complaints per day, and the Sri Lankan Embassy received between 50 and 60 per day. Complaints included sexual harassment, delayed and nonpayment of salaries, forced labor, contract switching, holding of passports, poor accommodation, nonrepatriation, physical torture or torment, overwork, imprisonment, and maltreatment. Abused domestic servants usually did not press charges for fear of losing their jobs. According to the Indian Embassy, 208 of their reportedly 313,000 nationals died in the country during the year, of which 17 were deemed suicide. Of the 208 total, 113 died of cardiac arrest, eight of whom were younger than 30 years of age. According to the Nepalese Embassy, 158 of their reported 266,000 nationals died. Heart attacks claimed 107, work-related accidents 22, and suicides eight. Local support groups believed that authorities reported the cause of death as heart attacks to hide workplace deaths.
The government has enacted regulations regarding worker safety and health, but enforcement, which is the responsibility of the Ministry of Energy and Industry, the Ministry of Health, and the Labor Department, while improving, was uneven due to insufficient training and lack of personnel. Diplomatic representatives visited labor camps and found the majority of unskilled foreign laborers living in cramped, dirty, and hazardous conditions, often without running water, electricity, or adequate food. The Labor Inspection Section conducted a limited number of random inspections of labor camps and when found to be below minimum standards, the operators received a warning, after which compliance was mandatory. Statistics on the number of inspections were not available, but foreign labor attaches reported that most labor camps in the country remained far below minimum standards.
In April 2006 two foreign construction workers reportedly died from exposure to toxic gases at a labor camp at Ras Laffan. An estimated 1,000 workers violently protested their deaths, and the organizers were detained and deported. Because the incident was considered a state security matter involving an oil or gas facility, officials from the NHRC were prevented by security authorities from inspecting the camp after the incident to help ensure respect for workers' health and safety. For this reason, compliance with standards was not documented."