Qatar is a leader in the region in providing all the legal support for domestic workers, noted a senior officer of International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Qatar Mission.

“When we look at the legal framework in support of the migrant workers, Qatar is among the best in the region. We hope it will continue because if anything will change for better, it will actually be in Qatar,” said Roula Hamati, migration management officer for the IOM Mission in Qatar.

She was speaking to Gulf Times on the sidelines of a conference to mark the International Domestic Workers Day organised by the National Human Rights Committee earlier this month.

“We are very happy about the reforms undertaken in Qatar to protect the rights of the migrant workers. Qatar is a special case in the region. If there is anywhere in the region where there is a lot of momentum for change, for positive improvements, for a lot of things to happen, it is actually in Qatar. The country has led the way in many regards when it comes to migrant workers’ rights,” explained Hamati.

The official said that IOM has recently started to engage more extensively on the domestic work portfolio.

She noted: “We have launched a programme on domestic work and it has a number of objectives. They include changing the societal view on domestic work, raising awareness on domestic workers issues, working with domestic workers themselves to build their capacities but also to be consulted and involved in every decision that involves them. And the aim of one of our programmes is to improve access to justice for domestic workers and support them in that regard.”

Hamati highlighted that IOM programmes are focusing on an issue that is normally not tackled very often which is topic of access to justice.

“There has been a lot of measures in Qatar in terms of the promotion of rights of migrant workers and domestic workers but I think the last barrier is the issue of access to justice because there are always challenges when it comes to access especially when we talk about domestic work, because of the nature of this work that happens behind closed doors inside people’s homes,“ she continued.

Hamati remarked that efforts are on with all the stakeholders and discussions are held about access to justice and help improve the situation.

“Of course we hope that there will be many partnerships that will come out of the discussions in terms of tangible outcomes but IOM is actually continuing its work to support domestic workers in Qatar. One key takeaway is that we have a very robust legal framework. We have all the good legal reforms and I think the issue moving forward is how can we form more partnerships to ensure the support of the implementation of the legislation,” added the official.