DOHA: The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) is preparing a guide on health and safety requirements for labour accommodations, an official said yesterday. The guide, the draft of which is ready, also includes guidelines on temporary accommodations for workers being set up at construction sites, Qatar News Agency said, quoting Dr Mohammed Said Al Kuwari, a member of the NHRC.

He was talking on the sidelines of a workshop on “regional capacity building for advocacy of human rights and migrant workers in the Middle East and Asia” which began here yesterday. Al Kuwari said Qatar has taken significant steps to protect the rights of expatriate workers in the cultural, social and economic aspects.

“ Qatar is doing its best to provide social services such as education and health to expatriate workers and their families,” he said. NHRC has set up a hotline for workers to lodge complaints and the committee is ready to look into the complaints and take necessary action, he added.

He said the selection of Doha for hosting this workshop was a recognition of the role Qatar and the NHRC are playing in protecting the rights of expatriate workers.

The five-day event will come out with recommendations on relevant topics that will be forwarded to the authorities concerned. the peninsula