Human rights in Qatar

Politics of Qatar

Arab League Member State of the Arab League

Constitution
Monarchy
Cabinet
Consultative Assembly
Elections
Administrative divisions (municipalities)
Foreign relations
Related topics

The state of human rights in Qatar is a concern for several non-governmental organisations, such as the Human Rights Watch (HRW), which reported in 2012 that hundreds of thousands of mostly South Asian migrant workers in construction in Qatar risk serious exploitation and abuse, sometimes amounting to forced labour. Qatar is an authoritarian and de facto absolute monarchy under the House of Thani.[1] Qatari law also does not permit the establishment of political bodies or trade unions.[2] Awareness of human rights abuses in Qatar grew internationally after Qatar's controversial selection to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[3][4]

Domestic servants, who are often women from poorer African, South and South East Asian countries, have little to no rights and often become victims of human and sex trafficking, including into prostitution. Individual rights and civil liberties in general are also highly restrictive in Qatar, such as the freedom of association, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press. In addition, sodomy laws exist to punish offenders, for both males and females.[5][6]

  1. ^ "The objections to Qatar hosting the World Cup reek of Eurocentrism". nbc. Archived from the original on 22 November 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022. In condemning Qatar, we should remember that the population of this authoritarian monarchy
  2. ^ "The People Want Reform… In Qatar, Too". Jadaliyya. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  3. ^ Begum, Rothna (25 November 2022). "Qatar Can't Hide Its Abuses by Calling Criticism Racist". Foreign Policy. Washington, D.C.: Graham Holdings Company. ISSN 0015-7228. Archived from the original on 27 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  4. ^ Tony Manfred (1 March 2015). "14 reasons the Qatar World Cup is going to be a disaster". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference PenalLaw was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ready was invoked but never defined (see the help page).