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Methodology
Human Rights Watch conducted the research for this report in May and June 2011. We held
detailed interviews with 73 migrant construction workers, whose conditions are the focus
of this report, and 11 other low-wage workers for purposes of comparison. We also
conducted three group interviews with construction workers. Workers described their
migration processes to Qatar, including the information they had before migrating and the
conditions they found on arrival. They gave accounts of any problems they faced in their
current employment, as well as any attempts to seek redress.
We met interviewees at random in public spaces where workers tended to congregate, at
work sites, in labor camps, and in front of the government Labor Complaints Department.
Human Rights Watch sought interviews in public spaces where workers tend to congregate
in the Doha Industrial area, in downtown Doha, and in al-Khor. We visited six labor camps
in the Doha Industrial Area (which houses the largest concentration of labor camps in the
country) and in al-Khor (a town approximately 50 km north of Doha where many labor
camps are located). Because workers live, work, and congregate in crowded conditions
with no private space, Human Rights Watch could not conduct one-on-one interviews in
completely private settings. However, we interviewed individual workers we met in a wide
variety of locations, at various times of day, and employed by diverse employers. Despite
these variances, workers reported strikingly similar forms of abuse. Human Rights Watch
interviewed workers in Hindi, Nepali, Tamil, or Urdu, with the assistance of translators who
spoke these languages.
Most of the workers we interviewed expressed fear for their jobs and their immigration
status if their employers found out they had spoken publicly about their working
conditions. We interviewed them on the condition that we would not use their names, and
many requested that we not mention the name of the company that employed them. Their
requests reflected the degree of control employers hold over workers, and workers’ fear of
retaliation and abuse should they attempt to exercise their rights.
Human Rights Watch also interviewed three employers, one recruiting agent, and two camp
supervisors. In addition, we interviewed members of local community organizations and
charity groups who work to provide migrants in need with food, lodging, assistance filing
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