Citizens’ attitudes towards migrant workers in Qatar

This publication was made possible by a NPRP grant from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Qatar National Research Fund; QNRF has not approved or endorsed its content. We are also deeply indebted to the excellent and insightful anonymous reviewers of this Journal whose invaluable suggestions significantly improved the quality of the paper.

Abstract

Public attitudes play a critical role in shaping policies towards immigration and the status of migrant workers. Facing growing pressure from international human rights organizations, media and other groups, the Gulf Cooperation Council states have begun efforts to reform the current kafala system, which prevails throughout the region. Yet despite these efforts, relatively little is known about what citizens actually think of this policy, let alone their more general attitudes towards foreign workers. In the following paper, we explore this question and focus on the case of Qatar. Recently, the Qatari government promised to reform their sponsorship system in 2015. Whether this reform succeeds will depend on public attitudes towards this new policy and how citizens perceive the role of foreign workers in the country. Drawing on data from a nationally representative survey in Qatar, we use a split sample technique to better disentangle citizens’ varying attitudes towards blue-collar and white-collar workers. The survey results suggest that Qatari citizens are ambivalent about foreign workers’ contributions and overall impact on their country. While they value foreign workers’ positive contribution to the development of their country in general, they have concerns about this population’s impact on economic and health resources. Ultimately, most citizens would prefer to maintain the sponsorship system, or kafala, as it is right now.

Keywords:

• public attitudes
• foreign workers
• kafala system
• Gulf Cooperation Council countries

Acknowledgment

The authors thank the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

This publication was made possible by a NPRP grant from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Qatar National Research Fund; QNRF has not approved or endorsed its content. We are also deeply indebted to the excellent and insightful anonymous reviewers of this Journal whose invaluable suggestions significantly improved the quality of the paper.

1. The GCC countries include Bahrain, Oman, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia-KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, and The United Arab Emirates-UAE.

2. For example, see: Human Rights Watch, Dubai: Migrant Workers at Risk (Human Rights Watch, 2003); Human Rights Watch, Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates (2006); Human Right Watch, ‘The Island of Happiness’: Exploitation of Migrant Workers on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi (2009); Human Rights Watch, Building a Better World Cup: Protecting Migrant Workers in Qatar Ahead of FIFA 2022 (2012a); Human Rights Watch, For a Better Life: Migrant Worker Abuse in Bahrain and the Government Reform Agenda (2012b); Endo and Afram, The Qatar-Nepal Remittance Corridor, World Bank Study (2011); International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), ‘Hidden Faces of the Gulf Miracle’, Union View 21 (2011).

3. The calculation of this sampling error takes into account the design effects (i.e. the effects from weighting and stratification).

4. See Diop et al. (2012) for results and limitations for the 2010 study.

5. Kish and the last birthday method are the two most popular sampling used in surveys around the world (e.g. World Health Survey, Gallup World Survey, Pew Global Attitude Survey).

6. In the 2010 Omnibus Survey, SESRI asked the question in the following format: ‘Do you think the sponsorship system or kafala should be changed to make a migrant worker more dependent on her/his sponsor, less dependent on her/his sponsor, kept about the same, or totally eliminated?’

7. The follow-up question was as follows: ‘Qatar was selected to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. For this reason, Qatar needs manpower to build several projects including roads, stadiums, hotels. Do you still think that the number of new “white-collar workers”/“blue-collar workers” allowed in Qatar each year should be [INSERT ANSWER FROM ATT1]?’ The answer choices are Yes; No; Don’t know; and Refused.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation).