After hosting World Cup, Qatar praised by U.N. rights body for labour law reforms but urged to do more

Qatar praised for labour law improvements ahead of 2022 World Cup, urged to abolish migrant worker system.

Qatar was praised at the United Nations' top human rights body on Tuesday (November 12, 2024) for improving labour laws before the 2022 World Cup, though it was urged to fully abolish its employment system for migrant workers.

Qatar returned to the Human Rights Council in Geneva for its five-yearly review for the first time since the football tournament that needed hundreds of thousands of foreign workers to build stadiums and other essential projects.

Football governing body FIFA is set to confirm Saudi Arabia in December as host of the 2034 World Cup — setting up another decade of scrutiny on how human rights are respected while preparing for more teams playing more games in more stadiums.

In Qatar, better labour law protections have been passed in recent years relating to a minimum wage, freedom to change employers and combating forced labour and trafficking, according to the emirate's senior diplomat in Geneva.

Qatar “highly appreciated” the contribution of migrant workers who are “true partners,” said Hend Abdulrahman Al Muftah, its permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, in translated comments.

Qatar was urged — or “recommended,” in the formal diplomatic language of the UN rights body — by French delegate Claire Thuaudet to “pursue the implementation of the labour laws” linked to the 2022 World Cup.

Sierra Leone said Qatar should “consider abolishing all vestiges” of the labour law system known as kafala.