“There will only be workers and their employers left and it will be even harder to enforce the existing laws,” he said in an interview with AFP, adding that he “hopes (to be) wrong “.
Under the fire of criticism since it was designated host of the 2022 World Cup in December 2010, Qatar undertook major reforms to its labor legislation in 2018, dismantling its system of sponsorship of migrant workers or even establishing a minimum wage of around 270 euros.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) and the international trade union federations which negotiated these reforms welcome the progress made but still point to flaws in their implementation. Qatar, meanwhile, says it wants to continue in this direction, thanks in particular to the permanent installation of the ILO on its soil.
After being imprisoned for four weeks in the emirate and then expelled in 2021, will Bidali, who has become a full-time activist for the rights of migrant workers, watch the Mondial-2022?
“It’s an ambivalent question,” replies the 30-year-old. “To say I won’t watch would be a lie but, seeing the stadiums, I can’t help but wonder how many people have not been paid, how many have suffered terrible working conditions, how many have died.”
– “Keep your head down” –
Back in January 2016: Malcolm Bidali arrives in Qatar.
Twelve hours a day, six days a week, he watches CCTV screens. Residing in a villa with several other workers and receiving “1,500 Qatari riyals (about 420 euros) per month”, he does not complain. This is, he says, “much better than the conditions in Kenya.”
The situation deteriorated from September 2018, when he was recruited by a second company for “1,250 Qatari riyals per month” (350 euros). “We lived in a very small room of less than 20 square meters, six of us, on bedbug-infested bunk beds, and without any lock on the door, so no privacy,” he says.
“At the beginning, I said nothing because you had to keep your head down,” continues Mr. Bidali, who went into debt to the tune of 1,200 dollars with a Kenyan recruitment agency to emigrate.
He ends up sending e-mails to the authorities “but nothing happened”, he claims.
The security guard is approached by Migrant-Rights.org, a specialized NGO. In 2020, he began to denounce, under the pseudonym of “Noah”, violations of the Labor Code and xenophobia.
“Working conditions in Qatar are similar to slavery in the sense that someone owns you, tells you what time to get up, what time to go to bed, what food to eat, where you live,” says “Noah”.
On May 4, 2021, he was arrested and taken to the premises of the national security agency, without a lawyer, he said.
“I didn’t even know why I had been arrested,” says the security guard, who will remain in detention for 28 days, subject, according to him, to “psychological pressure”.
Qatar accuses him of having received money from a “foreign agent” to engage in “disinformation”.
Released after protests from NGOs and the professional footballers’ union Fifpro, he was banned from leaving the country for two months.
Thanks to his international and diplomatic support, “Noah” was finally expelled in mid-August after being fined just over 6,000 euros, according to him.
Asked by AFP, the Qatari authorities did not wish to return to this episode. At the end of May 2021, they had assured that the security guard benefited from “legal advice and representation”.
