Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Qatar (Ratification: 1976)

Articles 8, 10, 20 and 21 of the Convention. Functioning of the labour inspection system and information contained in the annual labour inspection report. The Committee notes the statistical information contained in the annual reports for 2011, 2012 and the first half of 2013. It notes from this source that the staff of the labour inspectorate now includes 150 labour inspectors (117 in the area of general labour conditions and 33 in the area of occupational safety and health), of which six are women. The statistical data provided since 2007 reveal that the number of workplaces liable to inspection has at least doubled (now calculated to be 44,912), and the number of workers has at least quadrupled (the number of migrant workers, which make up to 95 per cent of the labour force of Qatar, is now calculated by the Government to be 1,359,715). The Committee notes that 46,624 labour inspections were carried out in 2012, and recalls that the annual labour inspection report for 2004 referred to 2,240 inspection visits. The Committee asks the Government to provide an explanation for the exponential increase of the number of labour inspections and the manner in which these inspection are carried out by the number of inspectors identified above.

While it notes the progress made concerning the subjects covered by the annual labour inspection report for 2012 (now also including information on the staff of the labour inspection service, statistics of occupational diseases, etc.), it once again draws the Government’s attention to Paragraph 9 of the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81), on the level of detail that is desirable (for instance, in relation to the statistics of violations and penalties) in the required information so that the annual report can serve as a basis for the determination of the advisory and enforcement activities of the inspection services needed to improve conditions of work at workplaces.

The Committee asks the Government to explain the reasons for the low number of women in the labour inspection staff and to provide information on any efforts undertaken to stimulate the interest of potential female candidates for the labour inspection service. Please also continue to indicate the distribution of the inspection staff by gender in the various positions and grades.

Labour inspection activities in the construction sector. The Committee notes from the statistical information in the annual labour inspection report for the first half of 2013 that 522,022 of the 1,359,715 migrant workers of the country are working in the construction sector. The Committee also notes from the information available in the media that several hundred thousand migrant workers are expected to be recruited for the 2022 World Cup and that a high number of fatal accidents have occurred on the relevant construction sites. In this regard, it also notes that the Government announced the recruitment of additional labour inspection staff, and that the Building Wood Workers’ International (BWI) sent a mission to Qatar on 7 October 2013 to inspect the working conditions on construction sites and elaborate a relevant report. The Committee asks the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that the construction sector is effectively inspected, including the recruitment and training of additional labour inspectors, and to provide relevant statistical data on inspection visits in this sector and their outcomes, as well as on industrial accidents and cases of occupational diseases in this sector.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.

[The Government is requested to reply in detail to the present comments in 2014.]