Qatar’s new labor reforms, which take effect Tuesday, fail to provide adequate protections for migrant workers, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] said in a report [text, PDF] released [press release] Monday. The country replaced it previous 2009 sponsorship law with Law No. 21 of 2015 [official summaries]. The report claims the new labor laws barely address labor exploitation because they still allow for employers to confiscate employees’ passports or travel documents, effectively trapping them within the country. Additionally AI accused the new labor laws of criminalizing labor exploitation in word only by allowing the abusive practices to continue. At great concern is the use of for migrant workers who assist with the expansion for the upcoming FIFA World Cup [official website].

With a global spotlight shining on Qatar in the lead-up to its hosting of the FIFA 2022 World Cup tournament, the shortcomings of the new law represent a failure to seize the opportunity to use the event as a catalyst for meaningful change, as the authorities have promised. To fulfill the promise of a World Cup that does not exploit migrant workers building stadiums, transporting fans and serving visitors, Qatar needs to do more than change the name of the sponsorship system: it needs to deliver reforms that tackle the fundamental drivers of the exploitation of migrant workers.

Labor and exploitation of workers continues to be a human rights issue. The International Labor Organization announced [JURIST report] in November that International Protocol P029, an agreement seeking to end forced labor, officially entered into force. Qatar initiated [JURIST report] a public awareness campaign in October to educate workers about the new labor laws that take effect in December. In April AI said that migrant workers preparing for the 2022 World Cup in Doha, Qatar, were facing systematic abuses [JURIST report].