In June 2014, delegates of the International Labour Organization (ILO) filed a complaint concerning Qatar's non-observance of the 1930 Forced Labour Convention and the 1947 Labour Inspection Convention. The ILO subsequently gave Qatar in March 2016 one year to reform the kafala system of sponsorship-based employment and its labour laws before taking a decision on the launch of an offical Commission of Inquiry (COI), the agency's highest level of sanction. At its 329th session in March 2017, the ILO deferred its decision to launch a COI until its November session.

On 8 November 2017, the ILO closed the complaint against Qatar after the government pledged further reforms and agreed to a technical cooperation agreement with the agency.

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