[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 682 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 682

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding worker 
protections in Qatar and the 2022 Federation Internationale de Football 
                     Association (FIFA) World Cup.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 24, 2014

    Mr. George Miller of California (for himself, Mr. McGovern, Mr. 
  Grijalva, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. Rangel, Mr. McDermott, Mr. 
 Swalwell of California, Mr. Lewis, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Van 
Hollen, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Conyers, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. Clark of 
Massachusetts, Ms. Norton, and Ms. Schakowsky) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding worker 
protections in Qatar and the 2022 Federation Internationale de Football 
                     Association (FIFA) World Cup.

Whereas Qatar has the highest per capita income of any country in the world and 
        plans to build some $200,000,000,000 dollars in infrastructure in 
        preparation for the 2022 Federation Internationale de Football 
        Association (FIFA) World Cup;
Whereas of the 1,350,000 workers in Qatar, approximately 94 percent of the 
        workforce, are foreign nationals employed mainly in the construction, 
        services, and domestic services sector;
Whereas Qatar has the highest ratio of migrant workers to the domestic 
        population of any country in the world and at least 500,000 more migrant 
        workers are expected in Qatar to accelerate the construction in 
        preparation of the 2022 football World Cup;
Whereas the majority of migrant workers come from India and Nepal, but also from 
        Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka;
Whereas according to figures from the Embassies of India and Nepal in Qatar, an 
        average of 200 workers from each of those 2 countries die each year;
Whereas according to the coordinator of the Nepalese community in the Middle 
        East, Narinra Bad, 70 Nepalese workers died at their workplace since 
        2012, while the Pravasi Nepali Coordination Committee (PNCC) has 
        documented the deaths of at least 185 Nepalese workers in 2013;
Whereas the visa sponsorship rules known as the ``kafala-system'' mean that 
        workers cannot change jobs without their employer's permission and 
        cannot leave the country unless their employer signs an exit permit;
Whereas the ``kafala-system'' is often exploited as employers withhold the 
        workers' passports and wages, as well as workers being charged fees as 
        high as $3,500 to obtain a visa from the sponsor leaving the migrant 
        workers with excessively high debts;
Whereas hundreds of unlicensed labor agents are operating in Qatar;
Whereas there are reports of further violation of workers' rights in Qatar, 
        including false promises on the nature and type of work by recruiters 
        and sponsors, employer obligations on wages and working conditions not 
        being met, workers being forced to live in squalid overcrowded labor 
        camps, and denial of the right to form unions or bargain collectively; 
        and
Whereas the United States Department of State has designated Qatar as not 
        meeting the minimum standards outlined in the Trafficking Victims 
        Protection Reauthorization Act of 2013, but recognizes that they are 
        making significant efforts to comply with those standards: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) calls on the United States to prioritize the rights of 
        migrant workers in their relations with Qatar by offering 
        technical assistance and expertise in combating human 
        trafficking and the provision of victim-centered services 
        including a linguistically appropriate and well publicized 24-
        hour hotline service;
            (2) calls on the United States corporations involved in 
        constructing stadiums and other World Cup related 
        infrastructure in Qatar to ensure working conditions are in 
        compliance with international human rights standards and norms 
        by holding subcontractors accountable for labor violations at 
        every level of the supply chain and incorporating mechanisms 
        for enforcement of these contractual obligations;
            (3) calls on the Qatari authorities to effectively 
        implement existing legislation and enact new legislation to 
        prevent human rights violations by--
                    (A) enforcing the prohibition against the 
                confiscation of passports;
                    (B) prosecuting violations and imposing meaningful 
                sanctions on companies and individuals who violate laws 
                designed to protect migrants' rights;
                    (C) adopting legislation on domestic workers that 
                include meaningful labour rights' protection consistent 
                with International Labour Organization Convention 189 
                and effective compliance mechanisms and establishing a 
                minimum wage for all workers;
                    (D) abolishing the sponsorship system (``kafala-
                system'') including by repealing the need for an ``exit 
                permit'' (to leave the country) or a ``No Objection 
                Certificate'' to change employer, and replace it by a 
                regulated labor market;
                    (E) allowing migrant workers to fully exercise the 
                right to freedom of association, to organize, and 
                bargain collectively;
                    (F) ending the prosecution of migrant workers for 
                the sole purpose of having ``run away'' from their 
                employer, and calling on the Qatari authorities to stop 
                such practices; and
                    (G) providing all migrants deprived of their 
                liberty a means of contacting their family, consular 
                services, access to a lawyer and interpreter, and the 
                right to promptly challenge their detention;
            (4) calls on the migrant laborers countries of origin, 
        notably Bangladesh, India, Nepal, the Philippines, and Sri 
        Lanka, to assume their responsibility to protect their own 
        nationals from deceptive recruitment agencies in their 
        countries and intervene on behalf of their nationals whose 
        rights are abused when working in Qatar and other Persian Gulf 
        States by--
                    (A) promulgating and enforcing laws against 
                unscrupulous recruitment practices; and
                    (B) informing migrant workers of their rights 
                before they leave the country; and
            (5) urges the Federation Internationale de Football 
        Association (FIFA) that the World Cup be a symbol of global 
        cooperation and deliver a strong message to Qatar to make sure 
        that the 2022 World Cup is not staged with the assistance of 
        modern slavery by continuing the organizations involvement in 
        Qatar and advocate for fair labor practices on all World Cup 
        related projects.
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