Qatar’s hotels accused of hospitality workers abuses

UK-based NGO Business and Human Rights Resource Centre finds Qatar’s hotel brands are failing to protect hospitality workers, as the Qatari government encourages workers to report abuses.

Luxury hotel brands in Qatar have failed to protect migrant workers, according to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, a London-based NGO, saying its annual survey uncovered abuse that “points to forced labour”. Its report titled “Checked Out: Migrant worker abuse in Qatar’s World Cup luxury hotels” (PDF) published on Wednesday found that migrant workers in the hotels suffer from “extortionate recruitment fees, discrimination and being trapped in a job through fear of reprisal and intimidation”. The Qatari government said in a reaction that the Gulf country “takes a zero-tolerance approach against violating companies, issuing harsh penalties including prison sentences”.