DOHA: The Ministry of Interior has come to the rescue of a large number of low-income workers against whom their employers had filed false complaints saying that they had run away and were untraceable.
The Ministry cancelled the complaints after the Qatar Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking (QFCHT) referred the pleas of the workers to it. The erring employers included bogus companies that had sold work visas in violation of the country’s laws, as well as some genuine employers who owed salaries to their workers.
The antihuman trafficking watchdog says it is closely coordinating with the Ministry of Labour to investigate the credentials and activities of the bogus companies against whom their victims have filed complaints.
The organisation is finding out how these companies managed to acquire work visas, which they “sell” in manpower exporting countries. It is suspected that these firms are issued temporary licences to operate on project-to-project basis and that is how they manage to get work visas that they sell.
The victims of these companies, who have “bought” such visas come here and find that they have nowhere to go, so they go to the mosques for refuge or take shelter in the hideouts of runaway workers. “The victims hardly have any other option,” said Mariam Al Malki, director-general of the QFCHT. She was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a workshop recently on “Workers’ Rights in Islamic Law”.
A large number of workers keep approaching the QFCHT, pleading that their companies have filed complaints against them accusing them of escaping.
“We make our own inquiries based on workers’ pleas and find that they are right. They are here either on free visas (visas provided by bogus companies illegally for a price), or they have to receive arrears from their employers,” said Al Malki.
These companies want to pull wool over the eyes of the authorities and blame workers for their mistakes to escape the law, Al Malki said. After making inquiries and becoming sure what a worker is claiming is correct, the QFCHT approaches the Ministry of Interior with a request to do justice to him and cancel the complaint against him. “The Ministry quickly obliges.” The QFCHT has warned employers of dire legal consequences if they take undue advantage of the situation and file false complaints against hapless workers, or making delays in paying them wages and arrears. “We have enough and effective legislations to protect those on the right side of the law.”
The Peninsula
