Qatar and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) are set to enter into a three-year programme of Technical Cooperation to carry out extensive labour reforms.

The details of the cooperation were published on October 26, 2017, the day the ILO Governing Body commenced its 331st session. On November 8, a plenary session will follow up on complaints concerning Qatar’s non-observance of the Forced Labour Convention and the Labour Inspection Convention, and determine if a Commision of Inquiry will be launched...Interestingly, there is no mention of freedom of association, which has been stressed in previous reports by trade unions working with the ILO.

...This is not the first time that Qatar has made headline-grabbing announcements promising extensive labour reform but fallen short on delivery. In May 2014, Qatar announced plans to end the  Kafala system, and but the reforms came into effect only in December 2015, and did not meet the promises made at the start.But the Technical Cooperation is a promising move and one that might result in the abolition of the worst provisions of the Kafala. Migrant-Rights.org welcomes this move.