Trafficking in Persons Interim Assessment - Qatar

[From the introductory text accompanying this report on the U.S. Department of State website: "In most cases, the Interim Assessment is intended to serve as a tool by which to gauge the anti-trafficking progress of countries that may be in danger of slipping a tier in the upcoming June 2010 TIP Report and to give them guidance on how to avoid a Tier 3 ranking. It is a tightly focused progress report, assessing the concrete actions a government has taken to address the key deficiencies highlighted in the June 2009 TIP Report. The Interim Assessment covers actions undertaken between the beginning of May – the cutoff for data covered in the June TIP Report – and November. Readers are requested to refer to the annual TIP Report for an analysis of large-scale efforts and a description of the trafficking problem in each particular country or territory."]

The Government of Qatar has made limited progress against human trafficking since the release of the 2009 TIP Report. The Qatari government has ratified the UN anti-TIP Protocol but has yet to enact anti-trafficking legislation that was drafted in early 2009. The government also has made no apparent effort to amend provisions of Qatar's sponsorship law – enacted in March 2009 – to prevent the forced labor of migrant workers; one such provision retained a requirement for foreign workers to obtain their sponsors' permission to leave Qatar. Since the release of the 2009 TIP Report, the government has not reported any new trafficking prosecutions or convictions.

The Qatari government has yet to implement formal procedures to identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups. Since May 2009, however, the government has sponsored several initiatives, including public awareness campaigns, formal training, and outreach to local labor attaches, to educate vulnerable populations about their legal rights against employers.