QNA /Geneva


HE the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Dr Abdullah Saleh Mubarak al-Khulaifi has affirmed Qatar’s commitment to submitting periodic reports regarding ratified and non-ratified agreements in a timely manner, including reports on the Forced Labour Convention (No 29), Labour Inspection Convention (No 81).
The reports are the subject of the complaint filed against the State of Qatar over alleged lack of its commitment to the application of these conventions in accordance with the request of the committee on the application of conventions and recommendations and follow-up on the findings of the high-level committee which visited Qatar in February 2015.
In a speech delivered before the ILO meeting held currently in Geneva HE the minister said that all observations contained in the complaint had been dealt with by Qatar absolutely seriously, while stressing that the major economic developments being witnessed in the country have created a set of challenges that the State seeks to overcome, most notably, the high numbers of migrant workers who have come from more than 130 countries in a short period of time, representing nearly 85% of the population.
Qatar’s government has taken a wide range of actions and decisions, most notably the issuance of Law No (1) of 2015, amending some provisions of the Labour Act No (14) of 2004 as part of the required legislation package to launch the wages of workers protection programme under the provisions of the Labour Law, the minister underlined.
He stressed that the ministry had taken all practical steps to build wages protection system in co-operation with Qatar Central Bank. A labour inspection department has been created to monitor the system through the wages protection department.
HE the minister noted the issuance of decision No (4) of 2015 sets out controls to protect wages of workers under the labour law. Beginning from November 2, employers are required to pay workers’ wages through transfers to financial institutions in the State, within seven days of the due date. If the employer delays paying wages for a period of one month from the due date administrative action may be taken against any person who violates provisions of this decision, including not granting any new work permits for the facility and stopping employer’s transactions at the ministry.
HE the minister highlighted the launch of a campaign through the daily newspapers, means of social communication, electronic messages, holding of seminars and direct meetings with employers and their representatives to raise their awareness on the importance of preserving workers’ rights and role of wages protection programme to facilitate this. He noted that as a result of this awareness campaign, the number of establishments and employers who subscribed to the wages protection system reached nearly 11,500 while the number of workers exceeded 600,000.
He added that the ministry has trained 300 inspectors in co-operation with regional and international organisations and it seeks to train 400 inspectors by the end of 2016 and provide them with sufficient electronic devices to help reduce time and effort to complete inspection process in addition to launching a number of self-service devices which enable a worker to file his complaint in any way and in any of the major languages of the migrant workers.
He explained that the government of Qatar is working hard with employers and workers to achieve directives of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to provide the best to the guest workers who contribute to the buiding of the State of Qatar.