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said he paid 120,000 Sri Lankan rupees (US$1,092) to get his job in Qatar. “I sold my
motorbike and my wife’s gold chain,” he said. “For the balance [of the money], I took a
private loan. Per 100 rupees (US$0.91) [I borrowed], I owe 5 rupees (US$.05) each month.” 109
Arif J. from Bangladesh, 28, said that his family sold their farming land to pay his recruitment
fee of 6000 Qatari riyals (US$1,647) to an acquaintance in Qatar. 110 Masud K. said he paid
270,000 Bangladeshi taka (US$3,651) to obtain a job as a construction worker: 111
I took a bank loan to pay the agent; [they charge] 100% interest yearly. After
one year, if I get one lakh (US$ 1,333) from the bank, I owe them one lakh
interest (US$ 1,333). It’s a private bank; they are working illegally. But only
they loan money.
I have to pay in one year. If I don’t pay, the bank will kick my family out of
our house.” 112
Like Masud K., many workers face dire consequences if they do not receive their salaries
on time or cannot repay the loans they took to fund their migration.
Recruitment fees constitute a major factor keeping workers in jobs where employers abuse
their rights—including conditions of forced labor and human trafficking. The Ministry of
Labor, in a letter to Human Rights Watch, stated that “the Ministry has received no
complaint of forced labor and it is inconceivable that such a thing exists in Qatar, as the
worker may break his contract and return to his country whenever he wishes and the
employer cannot force him to remain in the country against his will.” 113 However, conditions
of forced labor are not obviated by the right of a worker to break his contract and return
home. When workers owe thousands in recruiting fees, are not free to find new employers,
and do not have custody of their passports, they are, in fact, in conditions of forced labor.
Under international law, forced labor is defined as “all work or service which is exacted
from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not
109 Human Rights Watch interview with Ashok P., labor camp outside of al-Khor, June 24, 2011.
110 Human Rights Watch interview with Arif J., Doha Industrial Area, June 16, 2011.
111 Human Rights Watch interview with Masud K., labor camp near al-Khor, June 24, 2011.
112 Ibid. A lakh is a unit of measurement commonly used in South Asia, and equals 100,000 of the relevant currency.
113 Letter from the Qatar Ministry of Labor to Human Rights Watch, November 1, 2011, p. 4.
55 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | JUNE 2012