DOHA - It took less than a year for Murali Velayudhan's dream to shatter. The Indian construction worker came to Qatar in October last year, hoping to be one of thousands of migrant workers to benefit from a $200 billion building boom related to the country's hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and other projects.
Landing in Doha, Velayudhan was aware that Qatar, like other Gulf Arab states, stood accused of encouraging modern slavery with its treatment of migrant workers prompting international outrage. But he was determined to save money for his family.
But six months later the 42-year-old was heading back to India with no money and a debt that will take him a lifetime to repay.
“It's a dream that became a nightmare,” he told the , as he departed from Doha International Airport with other co-workers who said they were abandoned by their employers without visas or salary.
Despite global pressure on Qatar to address reports of exploitative working conditions, 29,400 people, or 1.4 percent of Qatar's population, are estimated to be working as slaves, in forced labor or domestic servitude, a report said on Monday.
Only Mauritania, Uzbekistan and Haiti had a higher prevalence of slaves per head of population, according to the second annual by , an Australian-based human rights group.
In the inaugural index last year, Qatar ranked 96th out of 160 countries surveyed for prevalence of modern slavery by percentage of the population. This year it was listed as the fourth worst country in a larger survey of 167 nations.
“Qatar's changed ranking reflects the fact that this year for the first time, we have survey data from returned Ethiopian and Nepali migrant workers,” said Fiona David, executive director of global research at Walk Free Foundation.
“We're aware there are estimates out there of even higher numbers in Qatar, and we feel that our numbers are likely to be a very conservative estimate,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
For decades, migrant workers largely from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines have come to the oil-rich Gulf to work as cheap laborers and domestic help.
More than 1.6 million foreign workers are employed in Qatar, where they outnumber the local workforce by nearly 20 to one, according to the Qatari ministry of labor and social affairs.
Walk Free Foundation says many are exploited by employers who can demand large recruitment fees, withhold pay, confiscate their passports and abuse them physically or sexually.
Being forced to work excessive hours in dangerous conditions and live in squalor were also counted as signs of slavery.
Large billboards reading “Qatar deserves the best” cover many construction sites, a few miles from where some World Cup stadiums are taking shape.
Tucked away on the outskirts of Doha, scores of hostels house thousands of workers, crammed into rooms of 8 meters (26 ft) by 8 meters. Described by rights groups and locals as “labor camps,” the accommodation is rundown with men sharing beds, bathrooms and cockroach-infested kitchens.
“This bed is all the space that I have for myself. I change my clothes, eat, sleep and even speak to my family with 10 men looking at me,” said Nawab Ansari, at a camp housing about a thousand workers in Doha's Sanayia industrial area.
Much of the pressure on Qatar to reform its labor laws and curb rights violations is focused on a sponsorship system known as “kafala” that the country - like most Gulf states - enforces on migrants.
Kafala requires migrant workers to seek permission from employers to change jobs. If permission is denied, they must leave the country. Passports of guest workers are held by the sponsor for the duration of their contracts.
Like other Gulf states, unions and labor protests are banned for migrant workers and authorities penalize any dissent with jail terms or immediate deportation.
The United Nations has asked Qatar to abolish the sponsorship system, which it says is a source of labor abuse.
In May, Qatar unveiled plans for labor reforms, including a new system based on employment contracts, after a review of its labor legislation by DLA Piper, a British-based law firm.
However no timetable was set and the reforms did not include setting a minimum wage, one of DLA Piper's recommendations.
The labor ministry said in a statement on Sunday that it was committed to improving conditions for workers and had already made changes such as increasing fines for employers who illegally hold employee passports, employing more labor inspectors and shutting down firms operating unsafe worksites.