In need of independent thinking

Qatar has been the focus of what has surely been some unwelcome international media attention of late. Long simmering questions about whether the country is a suitable choice to host the Fifa World Cup in 2022 have finally come to a boil.

Whispered allegations about corruption associated with the country’s bid to host the Cup are proving persistent. Most recently, alarming reports have come to light of the terrible working conditions that some migrant labourers are enduring in order to get the country ready for the World Cup.

Tiny and oil-rich, in recent decades Qatar has used its unimaginable wealth to forge an independent sovereign identity. The ruling al Thani family established and bankrolls the Al-Jazeera media empire. It has poured money into the flagship national airline, striving to make Doha a major international travel hub. The country enjoys very good relations with the US but is also an active member of both the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council. It has not hesitated to intervene forcefully into Middle Eastern diplomacy (most notably with Libya and Syria) when it perceives that its partners are moving too slowly.

This same drive and ambition could be channelled to make Qatar the first nation to bring its laws fully in line with international human rights standards and international labour laws and it may be uniquely placed to do so. Qatar has a small population — just over two million — and it has the highest per capita income of any country in the world. It enjoys high literacy rates and life expectancy and has low infant mortality rates and unemployment. However, these figures mask an inconvenient truth — only 15 per cent of Qatar’s population is native Qatari. The rest are immigrants, and most are employed as domestic workers or migrant labourers. Thus, many of the advancements that the Qatari government is proud of are limited. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

The government has expressed concern at reports of the deaths of Nepalese construction workers who toil in terrible conditions to build soccer stadiums and promised to investigate. It could go further. It could start by signing and ratifying the United Nations’ International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers — one of the least ratified of the UN’s prominent human rights treaties.

In addition, there are several other international instruments that, if taken as a package, would ensure that Qatar had some of the most progressive labour laws anywhere — setting the benchmark for all countries, not just those in the Muslim world. Qatar is already party to the UN International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) conventions prohibiting forced labour and child labour. But it could also ratify the ILO’s conventions on migrant and domestic workers. This small, stable, prosperous nation might just prove to be the perfect crucible in which to test the viability of these aspirational international standards.

Sooner rather than later, the media will tire itself of the story of Qatar and its World Cup woes and turn the glare of its collective spotlight elsewhere. But the government should take advantage of its inclination for independent thinking and use the next seven years to address its chorus of critics. There will be no better way to silence them than to prove them wrong.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2013.

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