• Proposed changes fail to go far enough, according to World Report 2016 • Migrant workers still remain ‘acutely vulnerable’ before 2022 World Cup

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Human Rights Watch has criticised Qatar’s promised changes to its labour laws before the 2022 World Cup, claiming they still leave migrant workers “acutely vulnerable”.

Since Qatar controversially won the right to host the World Cup in December 2010, criticism has been mounting over the treatment of the growing army of labourers building the infrastructure required.

Following investigations by the Guardian and international human rights groups and amid a growing international outcry, the Gulf state announced a series of reforms in October 2015.

But in its World Report 2016, Human Rights Watch said the proposed changes to labour law failed to go far enough. Amnesty has been similarly critical.

Although Qatar has promised to reform the kafala system that binds workers to their employees, the proposed laws fail to address the most problematic issues.

“Qatar’s inadequate labour law reforms undermined its progressive ambitions,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, middle east director at Human Rights Watch.

“The Qatari government should understand that protecting the rights of migrant construction workers is a necessary part of hosting a 21st century football tournament.”

Under the new rules, workers must still obtain a “no objection certificate” from their employer if they want to move jobs and must still obtain an exit permit if they want to leave the country.

A series of investigations have found migrant workers, who make up more than 80% of Qatar’s population, living in squalid conditions with many toiling for low wages to pay back loans from unscrupulous recruitment agencies in their country of origin.

Workers building the new stadiums required for the tournament are covered by a charter that guarantees their rights but human rights organisations remain concerned about those working on the huge construction boom underpinning Qatar’s 2030 Vision, of which the World Cup is an integral part.

Despite a series of recommendations made by the international law firm DLA Piper in a report commissioned by the Qatari government in the wake of the Guardian’s reports, one of which was to produce definitive statistics on the number of migrants who are killed and injured at work, there has not been any significant progress.