150 unpaid labourers go on strike

Their employers refused to pay salaries for several months. The Nepali embassy has now filed a case to the local court. The local daily "Peninsula" reported the workers as saying the company refused to pay wages and overtime. When the employers accused 3 Nepalese workers of stealing, the situation worsened and they managed to have them deported while their colleagues insist in their innocence. "We want to get our salary arrears and other allowances besides an air ticket to go back to our country" a worker said. According to Rajendra Pandey the first secretary at Nepal’s Embassy, there are 20,000 Nepali workers in Qatar. Every day the embassy receives around 20 such complaints. "The problem is that in each of these cases we need to find shelter and food, because the local authorities do not provide for them and most of the companies refuse to extend any support."
Ruled by the al-Thani family since the mid-1800s, Qatar transformed itself from a poor British protectorate noted mainly for pearling into an independent state. Compared with Israel the state possesses only half of the area but with its significant oil and natural gas revenues it has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Proved oil reserves of 16 billion barrels should ensure continued output at current levels for 23 years. Qatar’s proved reserves of natural gas exceed 25 trillion cubic meters, more than 5% of the world total and third largest in the world. Qatar has permitted substantial foreign investment in the development of its gas fields during the last decade and is expected to become the world's top liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter by 2007. The special economical situation gives reasons for human trafficking. Qatar is a destination country for men and women from South and Southeast Asia (mainly from India [18% of total number of population], Pakistan [18%] and Iran [10%]) who migrate willingly, but are subsequently trafficked into involuntary servitude as domestic workers and labourers; the problem of trafficking of foreign children as camel jockeys was addressed by government action in 2005, but independent confirmation of the problem's complete elimination is not yet available. By now the number of Foreigners outnumbers natives.
In May 2004, Qatar passed a new labour law which allows Qatari workers the right to strike, to form worker’s committees and to join international labour organizations with ministerial approval. But strikes remained forbidden in the dominant vital industry sectors like oil and gas, water and power, transport, communications and hospitals. The law prescribes a 48-hour workweek with a 24-hour rest period. Government offices and major private sector companies adhered to this law; however, it was not observed with respect to unskilled labourers and domestic and personal employees, the majority of whom are foreigners. Many such workers frequently work 7 days per week, and more than 12 hours per day with few or no holidays, no overtime pay, and no effective way to redress grievances. Foreign workers may enter the country on a visitor's visa, but a sponsor is needed to convert a visitor's visa to a work visa, and the worker must have a sponsor's permission to depart the country. According to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices from 2004 the average wage of non-citizen workers did not provide a decent standard of living for workers and their family. Employers mistreated some foreign domestic servants. Such mistreatment generally involved the non-payment or late payment of wages; in some cases, it involved rape and physical abuse.