According to [HRW Finberg Fellow Maham] Javaid, time is running out for Qatar to make the necessary changes to its labour laws. Once the public eye moves away after the World Cup, Javaid says, “Qatar won’t have this chance anymore to set a legacy and be ahead in the Gulf.”...

Javaid says the country has started to take some steps in the right direction.

However, she notes there are two problems. First, these three systems [the WPS, the Labour Disputes Settlement Committee, Workers' Support and Insurance Fund] “aren’t being implemented effectively. The other issue is that even if these systems were implemented perfectly they’re unlikely to combat wage abuse because of the larger framework that enables all of this salary abuse. And that larger framework is the kafala system.”

According to Javaid, migrants who work under the protection of FIFA and Qatar’s Supreme Committee are being treated better than many others. “That’s a good precedent to have. It means that it's basically like saying that we can treat our workers better if we want to do it."

Nevertheless, she notes, those working under FIFA are a minority of migrant workers and even among those, there are reported cases of wage abuses.