Qatar to open shelter and establish fund to support workers: Minister

Doha: Qatar will open a shelter and human welfare centre to provide necessary assistance and protection to victims of human trafficking as well as to help them rehabilitate and integrate into the society. It will also provide shelter for temporary workers until their exit from the state is ensured.

This was announced by the Minister of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs H E Dr Issa bin Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi on the sidelines of the Filipino community’s celebration of the 120th Philippine National Day and the Filipino Migrants Day, which was held in Doha today in the presence of a number of officials from the Philippines and Qatar.

The Minister also said that the Ministry is also in the process of establishing a workers’ support fund, which will settle the worker’s financial dues on the decision of the Labor Dispute Settlement Committee, incase their employers go bankrupt.

He pointed out that Qatar has taken a number of measures and integrated laws to protect the rights of workers and to create and provide a healthy and safe working environment, pointing out Qatar has launched a package of policies and legislative amendments to achieve decent work environment for expatriate workers and to establish and promote balanced and productive working relations between the two parties.

He also said that Qatar has issued a number of laws in favour of workers in the country, including Law No. (1) of 2015, amending certain provisions of the Labor Law, including the introduction of wage protection system, which guarantees the transfer of the workers’ wages to their local bank accounts, as well as Law No. (21) of 2015 regulating the entry and exit of expatriates and their residence, which came into force at the end of 2016.

He also referred to Law No. 13 of 2017 amending certain provisions of the Labor Law, including the establishment of labor dispute settlement committees, with a view to establishing a speedy and effective remedy mechanism for the settlement of disputes between the worker and the employer, and finally the domestic workers act, as well as the establishment of the National Committee for Combatting Human Trafficking to act as the national coordinator for monitoring, preventing and combating trafficking in human beings.