Mega-events
Kafala System Explained: How Sponsorship Rules Shaped Migrant Work in Qatar
The kafala system, explained in short, is a sponsorship arrangement used across the Arab Gulf in which a migrant worker's entry, residence and employment depend on a single employer. Human Rights Watch describes it as a restrictive labour governance system that gives employers disproportionate power over workers' immigration and employment status. Qatar, host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, changed several of its core rules between 2019 and 2021, and the ILO, trade unions and rights groups have assessed those changes differently.
How does kafala work?
Human Rights Watch says the system is used across the Arab Gulf as well as in Jordan and Lebanon, and that in some cases it may amount to modern slavery. The organisation identifies five elements that can keep workers trapped in an abusive situation.
Two of these elements, the need for employer consent to change jobs and the exit permit, were the ones Qatar targeted first in its reforms. The remaining elements, such as control over residence permits and the absconding charge, drew continued criticism from Human Rights Watch after those changes.
- Employer sponsorship is required for a migrant worker to enter the country
- Employers control securing, renewing and cancelling residency and work permits
- Workers need employer consent to leave or change jobs
- Employers can report a worker as absconding, making the worker undocumented and liable to arrest and deportation
- Workers need an exit permit to leave, which often requires employer consent
What did Qatar change?
On 16 October 2019 Qatar announced laws to abolish exit visas and no-objection certificates, together with a non-discriminatory minimum wage. The ILO described the reforms as a momentous step forward in upholding the rights of migrant workers, and the International Trade Union Confederation said the new laws would bring an end to kafala. The reforms formed part of a three-year technical cooperation agreement with the ILO.
In January 2020 Qatar lifted the exit permit requirement for most migrant workers. Reforms published in the official gazette on 8 September 2020 allowed workers to change jobs without the employer's no-objection certificate and set a basic minimum wage of 1,000 Qatari riyals, about US$274, with allowances of 300 riyals for food and 500 for accommodation where the employer does not provide them.
The 2019 package also included transparent contracts, labour courts to enforce them and a government fund to protect workers from exploitative employers while the state pursues recovery of entitlements, according to the ITUC statement. The laws were to go to the Advisory (Shura) Council and take effect on 1 January 2020, and the ITUC itself said the reforms needed to become embedded in employment practice.
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 16 October 2019 | Announcement of laws abolishing exit visas and no-objection certificates and introducing a minimum wage |
| January 2020 | Exit permit requirement lifted for most migrant workers |
| 8 September 2020 | Reforms published in the gazette, allowing job changes without an employer certificate |
| March 2021 | Non-discriminatory minimum wage introduced |
Source: ITUC via Sport and Rights Alliance; Human Rights Watch; ILO
What results has the ILO reported?
In a progress review dated 1 November 2022 the ILO said the minimum wage introduced in March 2021 covers all workers of all nationalities and sectors, including domestic work, and that about 280,000 people, or 13 percent of the workforce, saw their wages rise to the new threshold. It reported that the Ministry of Labour approved about 350,000 applications from migrant workers to change jobs in the two years after the reforms.
The ILO also said many workers still struggle to switch jobs, partly because of employer retaliation. It listed ensuring that all workers and employers benefit from the kafala reforms on labour mobility among the remaining gaps.
On wages, the ILO said employers must pay through Qatari banks so the Ministry of Labour can monitor transfers, and that penalties for non-payment had been increased. It reported that a government fund had disbursed 350 million dollars since 2019, and that 34,425 complaints were filed between October 2021 and October 2022, mostly about unpaid wages.
How do rights groups assess the reforms?
Human Rights Watch wrote in December 2021 that the success of the change on no-objection certificates was largely illusory, because workers must still obtain signed resignation letters that act as a de facto certificate. It also said that Qatar's reforms had not dismantled kafala, since employers retain significant control and absconding remains criminalised.
Amnesty International reported in November 2021 that the certificate had been abolished in law but that a de facto process had emerged, and it described weak implementation as the main problem. Both organisations acknowledged the legal changes, and their disagreement with the ILO's more positive framing is mainly about enforcement in practice.
Human Rights Watch had already set out similar caveats in September 2020. It said the impact of the reforms depended on consistent enforcement, that employers still handle residence and work permits so workers can become undocumented through no fault of their own, and that absconding remained criminalised.
