DOHA: Expatriate workers will now be able to make calls on a hotline to enquire about their rights in Qatar thanks to the Qatar Foundation for Protection and Social Rehabilitation (QFPSR) efforts to protect the workers’ rights in Qatar, officials have said.
This was announced during a social awareness lecture hosted by the QFSPR in conjunction with the Ministry of Interior (Police Training Institute) and the Qatari Red Crescent under the theme “Qataris efforts in protecting the rights of migrant workers”. The lecture hosted at the Wafedin Health Centre in Industrial area was attended by about 350 expatriate workers.
Edriss Mzabi a researcher at the police training institute addressed the workers on the legislative framework of Qatar related to protection of the rights of workers, the constitution, penal code and other laws related to combating human trafficking in Qatar. He also told workers about their rights to keep their own passports, not to be assaulted by anyone including their sponsors, their overtime payments and holidays.
The foundation seeks to foster a social dialogue and consultation with expatriate workers in defining and defending their in Qatar. It has set up a hotline, 108, through which workers can call and make enquiries regarding their rights and other related concerns throughout day and night. The hotline is working and seven days a week.
Awareness lectures were held by the foundation at the Wafedin Health Centre in Mamoura on the workers’ wages, their rights and obligations in Qatar. This lecture was given by Dr Mohammed Saeed, an international legal expert from the foundation and about 100 workers attended. The lecture was presented in Arabic and then translated to Urdu. After the lecture brochures with details of the services the foundation offered were distributed among the workers.
Qatar has also set up several departments to address and protect the expatriate workers rights and among these is the ministry of labour which exercises an oversight role of protecting the workers’ rights, does inspections on work sites and accommodations and undertakes the commitment to implement the law and ministerial decisions regarding the workers’ rights.
There is another important establishment to oversee the rights of workers in the Labour Courts which ensures that the principles of justice and fairness are respected in all labour related cases.
There is also the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) which looks at the abuses human rights and freedoms and suggests ways of addressing them. There is a Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Interior which receives requests for transfer of sponsorship for the workers with grievances with their sponsors.
The Peninsula
