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Doha denying its citizens and expats human rights by cancelling leave

Kuwait City - Hayef said that preventing people from taking their annual leave could increase serious and fatal work accidents.

Qatar’s government is committing grave violations against its citizens and about 2.2 million expatriate workers there, a majority of whom are from Asian countries, the Gulf Association for Rights and Freedoms said. The group sent an appeal to the offices of both the director-general of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, asking them to intervene urgently into the matter, Wam reported.
According to the association’s spokesman, Mohammed Hayef, the Qatari government has enforced a ban on its citizens and expatriate workers from taking their annual leave, and cancelled all leave requests. This, he said, could put migrant workers in grave danger.

Hayef said that preventing people from taking their annual leave could increase serious and fatal work accidents. “Depriving workers and placing them under harsh working conditions and physical, psychological and social pressures” could lead to serious consequences, he said.
He added that this is especially true for workers in companies that oversee construction projects for the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
The appeal called for urgent intervention of the ILO and the Human Rights High Commission to condemn Qatar’s decision, which “contradicts the conventions of the ILO and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and violates the basic human right to enjoy annual leave,” Hayef said.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com