Even when it is obvious that something is wrong with numbers in an article, it's not always entirely straightforward to put it right "Some people use statistics as a drunk man uses lamp-posts for support rather than for illumination," the Scottish writer and folklorist Andrew Lang is reputed to have said ( although he probably didn't ). I'd like to think I have both illumination and support...
Fair Trials charity calls Interpol a 'debt collector' for Gulf states that treat unpaid loans as a criminal offence Britons are losing jobs and being prevented from travelling abroad because Interpol is circulating alerts based on sharia-influenced debt offences issued by Gulf states, a legal rights group has claimed. The international police cooperation agency is circulating red notices its highest...
Natural death reports will not be accepted without proof, says former chief of Nepal's foreign employment department More than 90% of deaths of Nepalese migrant workers should be treated as murder, a senior government official has said. Continue reading... ...
Now it appears that the Qatar government is committed to bring in reforms that will modify the iniquitous kafala system By any standards the states of the Arabian peninsula are severely handicapped. They have small populations, a sparse geography, few resources other than petrocarbons, and monarchical political systems only lightly qualified, if at all, by democratic institutions. Yet, through their...
The body count is still rising among the 1.4 million migrant workers building new cities in the emirate before the World Cup It began with a steady flow of coffins through the arrivals hall at Kathmandu airport. In departures, hundreds of thousands of young men were leaving their lives in Nepal to provide for their families as the human capital fuelling a multibillion-dollar construction boom in the...
Ganesh, 16, left Nepal for Qatar to help his family out of poverty. Within weeks he was dead. Ten months on, his parents fear their other sons may be forced to seek employment overseas too Ganesh Bishwakarma's story Exactly a year ago, Ganesh Bishwakarma was a young man full of hope. He had just completed the laborious task of collecting the documents needed to migrate to Qatar: passport, visa, job...
Filipina maid is one of only a handful of migrant workers in Qatar to escape such dire employment conditions, says Amnesty A Filipina migrant has told how she overcame months of hell to achieve the freedom denied to many domestic workers in Qatar. "My inspiration to keep me going is God, my family and myself," said Jane, who has finally been released from her contract with a company that...
Report commissioned by Qatar government largely concurs with findings that workers are being subjected to serious exploitation A long-awaited report has criticised Qatar's controversial kafala system as "no longer the appropriate tool for the effective control of migration". Continue reading... ...
Post your questions for Pete Pattisson and Amnesty's James Lynch, who will be online at 1pm BST on Thursday 15 May The Guardian's revelations about the abuse of migrant workers labouring on building sites for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar triggered global debate on the employment conditions of foreign staff in the country. On Wednesday, the emirate announced it would scrap some of the controversial...
Report details deaths of 964 workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh from cardiac arrests, falls and suicide The major report commissioned by Qatar into its treatment of migrant workers produced more than 60 suggested reforms and one telling confirmation: that hundreds of workers have died, many of them from unexplained sudden illness, over the past two years, at a rate of more than one a day. The...
Move follows Guardian investigation into abuse and exploitation of migrant workers preparing emirate for 2022 tournament Qatar has promised to scrap key elements of its controversial labour laws, in the wake of an international outcry over conditions for migrant workers before the 2022 World Cup, which followed a Guardian investigation into workplace abuse in the Gulf state . Officials said they would...
International Trade Union Confederation has warned that 4,000 migrant workers could die if nothing is done A series of countries have piled pressure on Qatar to reform its labour laws to prevent mistreatment of migrant workers helping prepare for the 2022 World Cup. Many of the 84 countries speaking at the UN Human Rights Council panel reviewing Qatar's human rights record called on the Gulf state...
Gulf state urged to take action after official figures show migrant workers dying at rate of more than one a day Migrant workers are still dying in Qatar at a rate of more than one a day, intensifying pressure on the Gulf state to improve conditions for the 1.4 million labourers helping it prepare for 2022 World Cup. On the day that the Qatari authorities confirmed they had received a pivotal independent...
The jury is out on Operation De Pogo, a government scheme to protect migrants from unscrupulous recruitment agencies The Nepalese government has launched a crackdown on rogue recruitment agencies in an effort to stamp out the exploitation of its vast migrant workforce. According to the department of foreign employment, more than 200 agencies have been punished since mid-February, with suspensions and...
Broadcaster issues 'notification of dispute' with Cairo's interim authority as four journalists remain in custody Al-Jazeera Media Network has served Egypt with a $150m (£89m) compensation claim on the grounds that its investments in the country have been damaged since July 2013. On Monday, the network lodged a formal "notification of dispute" with the country's interim government....
Though concerns were not raised during nuclear talks, senior US official says Iran's ballistic missiles 'will have to be addressed' A senior US official on Sunday signalled optimism about a possible resolution of the Iranian nuclear dispute , but said Washington remained concerned that Iran's ballistic missiles threatened Gulf Arab states. Frank Rose, US deputy assistant secretary of state for space...
Special rapporteur on human rights of migrants adds to pressure on Gulf state as deaths on building sites continue Qatar urged to protect domestic workers Maids detained after passport seizures The UN has called on Qatar to abolish the kafala system that ties migrant workers to their employers , amid trenchant criticism of the conditions endured by those working in a construction boom in the runup...
UN official presses Gulf state to overhaul labour laws to include domestic workers amid growing concerns over rights abuses Fresh calls to scrap kafala migrant worker system Qatar maids detained by authorities after passport seizures The UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants has called for Qatar to stop the exploitation and trafficking of domestic workers in the Gulf state and do more...
Hundreds of migrant workers who have had documents seized by employers are being held for months in deportation centre The "widespread" practice of confiscating low-income workers' passports in Qatar has left hundreds languishing for up to a year in the Gulf state's deportation centre, the Guardian has learned. Continue reading... ...
Ukraine crisis brings questions over human rights in countries such as Azerbaijan, Algeria and Qatar to the fore George Osborne and Boris Johnson were lined up to speak, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) was to provide the venue and the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra the evening entertainment. A plush red carpet was rolled out by the British establishment last month but not for senior politicians or business...