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or who have learned of job opportunities through contacts at other companies and help
workers migrate, generally in exchange for compensation. 98
Recruitment Fees
Of the 73 workers interviewed for this report, 69 said they paid recruitment fees ranging
between US$726 and $3,651 in order to obtain their jobs in Qatar, borrowing from private
moneylenders at interest rates that ranged from three to five percent interest per month to
100 percent interest on their debt per year. Even workers who migrated through personal
contacts said they paid recruitment fees, as their contact either arranged their migration
through a recruitment agency that charged fees, or asked for money in exchange for
facilitating the worker’s placement.
ILO Convention 181 concerning Private Employment Agencies states that “private
employment agencies shall not charge directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, any fees or
costs to workers.” 99 The convention does not restrict this ban to licensed agencies, but
defines a private employment agency as “any natural or legal person, independent of the
public authorities, which provides … services for matching offers of and applications for
employment, without the private employment agency becoming a party to the employment
relationships which may arise therefrom.” 100 Thus, the convention prohibits informal labor
brokers and middlemen, as well as government-licensed agencies, from charging workers
recruitment fees. It places an affirmative obligation upon governments to regulate these
practices by investigating informal recruitment, and penalizing offenders where necessary.
Though Qatar has not ratified the Private Employment Agencies Convention, it represents
best practice under international law. Because recruitment fees trap thousands of workers
in jobs they may not have agreed to before migrating, in abusive conditions, or conditions
otherwise unsatisfactory to the worker, the Qatari government has an obligation to
regulate these fees, and to prohibit practices which could lead to workers’ exploitation.
Construction companies also have human rights obligations to avoid exploitative practices
that keep their workers in situations of forced labor. Yet Qatar has not taken adequate
98 Human Rights Watch interview with Dilan K., Doha Industrial Area, June 15, 2011; interview with Arif J., Doha Industrial
Area, June 16, 2011; interview with Omar H., al-Khor, June 24, 2011.
99 ILO Convention No. 181 concerning Private Recruitment Agencies, adopted June 19, 1997, entered into force May 5, 2000,
art. 7.1.
100 Ibid., art.1.
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