Research Paper Final Draft(Children's Rights In Qatar)

Bruce Tong Kwan Chi
Professor Jordan Hayes
English 1A04HR
25 June 2014

                                              Children's Rights In Qatar

     For me, the interest in Qatar’s children rights started when I went to a blog by Human Resource Professionals(PHR) in Qatar that strive to help stop human rights violations in Qatar. On the homepage it introduces “Human Rights abuses are more frequent in Qatar than what is actually reported. They are masked and hidden to the outward eyes looking in. The sponsors abusing law and human rights are often protected because they are Qatari Nationals. The rest of us which experience this abuse live in fear of reporting it to Authorities.” This urged me to go in depth to what is exactly happening in Qatar because I realised most of us as outsiders do not know the situation and yet we are almost the only ones that can help change it. 

      Qatar is a sovereign Arab emirate located in Western Asia/Middle East. 86% of the 1 million population in Qatar are foreigners. Immigrants are mostly Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, Iranians, Filipinos, Egyptians and Sri Lankans(Solomon) According to Forbes and most authorities, Qatar is now one of the richest countries in the world. However, it does not necessarily mean that it has successfully made its citizens live in a good quality of life. Even though Qatar has great economic potential to fulfil its people’s demand, it chooses to exploit them instead. Both male and female adults and children are being violated in terms of human rights. For this essay, I am going to focus on Children's rights. Children are physically and sexually abused, do not have access to education, are too young to be married,  are forced to become labours, and are in threat of being orphans. Before we go in depth to the children's rights that are violated, we should keep in mind that Qatar has signed and ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child by 1995 (Humanium). In other words, they agree to not offend children’s rights and it is their duty not to violate the rights.

     Female children in particular are not prepared for being married in many ways. Girls are mentally, physically and financially not well-developed enough for marriage. According to Humanium, the minimum marriage for a girl is 16 years old while for boys it is 18 years old. In other words, children might have to marry before they have the ability to work since at this age they should be still going to school. Also, at this age children are still growing and developing but instead they will have to marry to take on more pressure they are not ready to handle yet, for example, dealing with family relationship, having a chance of being pregnant, having to earn money to support family, and there will also be an increased rate of domestic violence since domestic violence is a common issue in Qatar(Scott). Research also has found that there will be a greater chance for child brides to be infected with sexually transmitted disease, suffering from obesity and many other health problems (Stritof). According to article 27 the UNCRC, "Children have the right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their physical and mental needs." It has clearly stated that children are expected to have good physical and mental health. However, being married will only lead them to risks of suffering from diseases, domestic problems and being financially burdened for supporting family. In addition, such practice also shows us that there is an inequality between males and females as their minimum marriage ages are set differently. This relates to professional journalist Sheryl Wudunn’s concern’s that discrimination of women is “our century’s greatest injustice” and Qatar should be highlighted as one of the countries that mistreats women. It is shown that the system in Qatar is biased towards men since they are protected by not having to marry before adulthood to suffer from financial, mental and other potential problems.  

     Children are constantly suffering from a wide range of abuses from different people. According to Humaium, parents think using violence against children is normal and is even necessary for teaching children. In other words, domestic abuse is a norm in Qatar and children can be abused whenever their parents feel they need to. Also, according to Scott, boys are physically abused while females are mentally abused. Those who are domestically abused are likely to abuse others at school. In other words, domestic abuse will not only harm the children themselves, and it will influence the child victims to do the same other children. Children will think is is normal to abuse other with violence since they themselves are treated this way by their families. According to article 19 of UNCRC, "children have the right to be protected from being hurt and mistreated, physically or mentally". It is clear that adults and children in Qatar are violating children's rights and they should never treat children with violence. Adults should not be allowed to use violence even if they think it is necessary for educating their children and they should find alternative ways to do so such as using rewarding and praising strategies to encourage children to be good.

     While it might be true that since domestic abuses happen at home and it could be difficult for the government to witness or realise all the abuses, criminal laws should be, at least set to act as a deterrent effect to abusers. However, there is no specific laws set on domestic abuses(Human Rights Watch Qatar). In other worlds, parents are not informed that domestic abuse is a problem that is illegal nor unethical and they are encouraged to do so in an indirect way since they do not hold any legal obligation to it. Some may also say that parents should be to blame for violating human rights since it is themselves who abuse children. However, we can not expect parents are well educated and knowledgable enough to realise violence is a wrong way to treat others since adults are mostly migrant workers(Human Rights Watch). Also, Qatar is violating human rights because it does not see abuses as illegal and unethical and it has no attempt at all in stopping abuses knowing that setting laws should be the cornerstone to stop problems. 

     African children in particular are forced to be labours. These children are kidnapped and sold to become camel jockeys(Humanium). According to article 4 in UDHR, "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms". This has clearly shown that Qatar is violating children's rights by having them become slaves. Qatar is seen still in practice of slavery and does not see it as a problem. Also, such practice will lead them to risks of having poor working conditions that harm their health and not having the chance to access education. This violates children's rights in terms of mental and physical health from both UDHR and UNCRC. In addition, there is a further problem that Qatar is shown discriminating against African people. There is a large variety of immigrants in terms of races but Qatar only chooses to make those Africans slaves. We should know that there’s an old tradition and belief that Africans were born to be slaves and in the past white people see black people as inferior. In America the African people lynching and the extensive import of African slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries are some of the evidence. Today we still see similar kinds of discrimination around us. Personally, in my home country Hong Kong, local people discriminate black people and even avoid to talk to them. When you are on the train, you will realise that no one tends to sit with black people even there’s empty seats around them. In other words, discrimination against African has already happened for a long time and Qatar is one of those discriminates who encourages the continuation of discrimination in practice.

     Some may say that in 2005 Qatar has forbidden child labor(Humanium). That means children's rights should be protected and child labor are already stopped in action. However, according to Solomon, the laws in Qatar only protects its citizens and the government sees non citizens as contract labourers and they do not deserve legal or citizenship rights. This is to say, foreigners are still vulnerable and the government take neglecting their human rights as granted.  According to Human Rights Watch, nearly 90% of Qatar’s population is foreigners. In other words, nearly all of the people in Qatar are not protected by human rights.  

     Children do not have the freedom to leave Qatar since their parents are not allowed to do so. Migrant labor workers in Qatar are in control by employers. According to Solomon, employees are not allowed to leave the country unless their employers allow. This is to say, labours are forced to do their jobs and have no freedom to quit. We should know that most labor workers bring their families to the country especially for the construction for World Cup 2022 that Qatar is going to hold(Human Rights Watch) since it is long time work that takes nearly 10 years. It is implied that children are also not allowed to leave because they will most likely have to stay with their parents. According to article 13 in UDHR,  "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country". In other words, employers do not have the authority to hold migrant workers in Qatar and it is the workers' choice to leave or not leave. Qatar should allow migrant workers to leave the country especially when they are not it’s citizens. Also, parents are at risk of death which might make children orphans. Constructions in Qatar has led to significant labor deaths. It is reported that the World cup 2022 has killed several hundreds of employees and it is estimated that 4000 will die considering the construction has only begun for 2 to 3 months(Boudway). This has also led to orphaned children. Children will risk not having access to education, food, shelter, care and many other sources that are provided and supported by parent(s). Also, children might be traumatised by the death of their parent(s) and it will lead them to mental problems. According to UNCRC, “Children have the right to live with their parents.” However, Qatar is violating this article by potentially separating children with their parents for lifetime since parents could die from construction. Children’s right will be violated this way because they will likely not be able to grow and develop in a healthy way without their parent(s). 

      To conclude, children in Qatar suffer mental, physical and financial problems from marriage; are abused from different people either mentally or physically; are forced to be labours; do not have the freedom to go to other countries; risk being orphans. To tackle the abuse problems, anti-abuse organisations and campaigns should be made to support the abused children and protest against the abusers. Also, supervision should be done in schools where abuse happens commonly such as toilets and playgrounds. There should be compulsory checkups for children’s mental and physical health to make sure they are not abused by anyone. Governments from other countries should watch and help change the problems in Qatar by supervising or warning them. More specifically, countries can end inspectors to workplaces and boycott Qatar by not benefitting them in all ways until they succeed in protecting human rights. We as global citizens should always be aware of these problems and stand up for children in Qatar by protesting or opening up organisations as Jack Donnelly in his book International Human Rights suggests “Transnational non-governmental organisations now exert powerful and sophisticated pressures on states on issues such as human rights and the environment.” 

                                                                        Works Cited

Boudway, Ira. “The 2022 FIFA World Cup Could Be Deadly for Qatar’s Migrant Workers.”   

    Bloomberg Business Week. 14 May 2014. Web. 21 June 2014.

“Building a Better World Cup.” Human Rights Watch. June 2012. Web. 21 June 2014. 

“Children of Qatar: Realizing Children’s Rights in Qatar.” Humanium. Web. 21 June. 2014

Donnelly, Jack. “International Human Rights.” Westview Press. 2013. Print.

“Human Rights in Qatar.” <http://humanrightsqatar.blogspot.com>. n.d. Web. 21 June 2014.

Scott, Victoria. “Report:One In Five Children In Qatar Subject To Abuse.” Doha News. 30 Oct.  

     2013. Web. 21 June 2014.

Sheri, Stritof. “Child Brides.” about.com. Web. 21 June 2014. 

Soloman, Jesse. “Qatar Migration Profile.” The American University in Cairo. 2012. Web. 21 June 

     2014 

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

     <http://www.un.org/en/documents/undr/index.shtml>. n.d. Web. 21 June 2014.

“United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). “Fact Sheet: Convention on the Right of the Child.”

     New York: United Nations. 19 May 2014. Web 21 June 2014

“World Report 2013: Qatar.” Human Rights Watch. Web. 21 June 2014.

“World Report 2012: Qatar.” Human Rights Watch. Web. 21 June 2014.

Wudunn, Sheryl. “Our Century’s Greatest Injustice.” TED. July 2010. Lecture.

(1962 words)

Webzine Reflection

1)     For the webzine, other than focusing on my own part of talking about human rights in Qatar, I proofread my group mates' posts. I looked for mainly typo mistakes and a bit grammar and I corrected the mistakes for them by editing their posts directly. I did not do any edition for the layout and design because I am not too familiar with Tumblr. However, I gave suggestions for the layout for example the background colour and how to access different links. I also gave suggestions to some of my group mates that were not certain what to do and what the posts should focus on. For example, to focus on the geographic and not talk too board. I made sure the contents from my group mates' post do not overlap and can provide sufficient information about human rights around the world after combining all posts. Finally, I made sure all of us are posting in same formats.(some of us typed "final draft" on the title and I reminded them not to do it!)
2&3)     The takeaway from the webzine is that I learnt how work with my group mates to make sure our final product is informative and our posts support and relate to one another. This required us to really not what each of us was doing so that we could write relevantly. Also, from reading our final product, I can definitely learn more about human rights in different countries. One good thing about our final product is that it's not from experts that always put hard vocabulary which makes it easier for me to read and understand yet it is informative. The major takeaway from the class is that I learnt a lot from human rights. I feel like this class focused more on human rights instead of English grammar and writing skills(this makes sense because I have already studied these basics in my ESL 26 class and I am expected to be not bad in English). The UDHR and other laws are definitely something that I had never went in depth before I came to the US. By doing the essays, I am now able to apply human right protections to any issues. I studied geography for many years and I am already quite familiar to cultural, geographical problems and issues around the world(for example, sweatshops in Vietnam, cultural encroachment from the US to China, farming system in California). Even though I know there is unfairness to many people around the world, I never realised how many rights are violated against them and how human rights protections are actually helpful to them. I can definitely connect my knowledge from geography to knowledge about human rights that I gained. Something that's quite amazing is that I was taught about the UDHR from 2 other classes within these months(photography 8H and Photography 10H). These 2 courses both talked a bit about human rights(for example, the lynching of black people and the civil rights movement ) and I realised how human rights are important for us to know today. To be honest I have never really read long books. But from this class, I read Little Bee and another book about the presentation and reading 2 books in 2 months was something I could never have done before. I enjoyed the reading part(books and materials provided) as I really learnt a lot from them including information and even writing/speaking skills. Anotating the materials was definitely a way to make sure I understand most of the things I read.
4)    Overall I am really satisfied with this course and I definitely learnt a lot(writing skills and knowledge about human rights). However, I think the presentation should not be only a book and it can require groups to do research themselves referring to guidelines. I can say everything provided worked well for me I learnt from each of the materials equally. Perhaps we can do a presentation about CURRENT issues so students can know what is happening around the world. Also, the research paper can be about some controversial topics such as legalising gay, allowing young marriage, etc.

Webzine Contribution Final Draft

Topic: Children's Rights In Qatar

     Qatar is a sovereign Arab emirate located in Western Asia/Middle East. 86% of the 1 million population in Qatar are foreigners. Immigrants are mostly Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, Iranians, Filipinos, Egyptians and Sri Lankans. According to Forbes, Qatar is now one of the richest countries in the world. However, it does not necessarily mean that it has successfully brought its citizens a good quality of life. Even though Qatar has great economic potential to fulfill its people’s demand, it chooses to exploit them instead. Both male and female adults and children are being violated in terms of human rights. For this essay, I am going to focus on Children's rights in Qatar. Children are physically and sexually abused, do not have access to education, are too young to be married, are forced to become labors, and are in threat of being orphans. Before we go in depth to the children's rights that are violated, we should keep in mind that Qatar has signed and ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child by 1995. In other words, they agree to not offend children’s rights and it is their duty not to violate the rights.

     Female children in particular are not prepared for being married in many ways. Girls are mentally, physically and financially not well-developed enough for marriage. According to Humanium, the minimum marriage age for a girl is 16 years old while for boys it is 18 years old. In other words, children might have to marry before they have the ability to work since at this age they should be still going to school. Also, at this age children are still growing and developing but instead they will have to marry to take on more pressure they are not ready to handle yet, for example, dealing with family relationship, having a chance of being pregnant, having to earn money to support family, and there will also be an increased rate of domestic violence since domestic violence is a common issue in Qatar. Research also has found that there will be a greater chance for child brides to be infected with sexually transmitted disease, suffering from obesity and many other health problems. According to article 27 the UNCRC, "Children have the right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their physical and mental needs." It has clearly stated that children are expected to have good physical and mental health. However, being married will only lead them to risks of having diseases, suffering from domestic problems and being financially burdened for supporting family. 

      Children are constantly suffering from a wide range of abuses from different people. According to Humaium, parents think using violence against children is normal and is even necessary for teaching children. In other words, domestic abuse is a norm in Qatar and children can be abused whenever their parents feel the need to. Also, according to Scott, boys are physically abused while females are mentally abused. Those who are domestically abused are likely to abuse others at school. In other words, domestic abuse will not only harm the children themselves, and it will influence the child victims to do the same to other children. According to article 19 of UNCRC, "children have the right to be protected from being hurt and mistreated, physically or mentally". It is clear that adults and children in Qatar are violating children's rights and they should never treat children with violence. 

     African children in particular are forced to be labors. These children are kidnapped and sold to become camel jockeys. According to article 4 in UDHR, "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms". This has clearly shown that Qatar is violating children's rights by having them become slaves. Also, such practice will lead them to risks of having poor working conditions that harm their health and not having the chance to access education. This violates children's rights in terms of mental and physical health, and education(I have suggested in the previous paragraph)

     Some may say that in 2005 Qatar has forbidden child labor. That means children's rights should be protected. However, the law only protects its citizens which means foreigners are still vulnerable. Also, the government sees non-citizens as contract labors and they do not deserve legal or citizenship rights. According to Human Rights Watch, nearly 90% of Qatar’s population is foreigners. In other words, nearly all of the people in Qatar are not protected by human rights. 

     Children do not have the freedom to leave Qatar since their parents are not allowed to do so. Migrant labor workers in Qatar are in control by employers. Research has found that employees are not allowed to leave the country unless their employers allow. In other words, labors are forced to do their jobs and have no freedom to quit. We should know that most labor workers bring their family to the country(especially for the construction for World Cup 2022 since it is long time work) which in turn mean that children are also not allowed to leave. According to article 13 in UDHR,  "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country". In other words, employers do not have the authority to hold migrant workers in Qatar and it is the workers' choice to leave or not leave. 

     Parents are at risk of death which might make children orphans. Constructions in Qatar have led to significant labor deaths. It is reported that the construction for World cup 2022 has killed thousands of employees. This has also led to orphaned children. Children will risk not having access to education, food, shelter, care and many other sources that are provided and supported by parent(s). Also, children might be traumatised by the death of their parent(s) and it will lead them to mental problems. Children's right will be violated this way because they will likely not be able to grow and develop in a healthy way without their parent(s). 

      To conclude, children in Qatar suffer from mental, physical and financial problems brought by marriage; are abused from different people either mentally or physically; are forced to be labors; do not have the freedom to go to other countries; risk being orphans. To tackle the abuse problems, anti-abuse organisations and campaigns should be made to support the abused children and protest against the abusers. Also, supervision should be done in schools where abuse happens commonly such as toilets and playgrounds. There should be compulsory checkups for children’s mental and physical health to make sure they are not abused by anyone. Governments from other countries should watch and help change the problems in Qatar by supervising or warning them. More specifically, countries can put inspectors into workplaces and boycott Qatar by not benefitting them in all ways until they succeed in protecting human rights. We as global citizens should always be aware of these problems and stand up for children in Qatar by protesting or opening up organisations.

Further Links

Problems About Child Marriage

http://marriage.about.com/od/arrangedmarriages/a/childbride_2.htm  

DOHA News

http://dohanews.co/report-one-in-five-children-in-qatar-subject-to-abuse

NACLA News

http://nacla.org/news/2014/6/19/soccer-democratic-world-cup-oligarchy

Marked Draft(Bruce Tong reading T.Y. Li's draft)

Topic: Call for actions for children soldiers in Africa

(708 words)

Although we see and hear many countries have opposed to the use of child soldiers in armed conflicts, it is still happening, especially in Africa. Africa is known for poverty and the poor living condition for those who live there, most children also suffer too. They can be raped, harmed, killed, and they can be exploited as children soldiers. From a United Nations News report, it says “thousands of people in Central African Republic (CAR) are estimated to have been killed, nearly 1 million driven from their homes”. Nearly one-fourth of African population got involved with military conflicts. In other words, it is only a matter of time that it will involve more and more children’s life. Indeed, there is not really a social stability in Africa because of the inefficient leaderships and the people are always in cross-fire. In order to fight off the enemies, people train their children to increase their war power. However, can we all blame the leaderships there? We all live in the same world, instead of blaming someone or something, we should be the ones who maintain world’s peace, and it is our responsibility to protect the world’s children. Some may say it is hard to help the children soldiers in middle-east area or third world countries such as Africa because due to geography reason, and because of politics and culture differences. But as mentioned above, it is our responsibility to these children in the poor area. Apparently, the people who are exploiting these children are not going to stop and helping them instead; if we do not even give these children a hand, who will?

      So are there any suggestions or actions that can solve the issue of child soldiers? For public pressure, we have the Red Hang Day. On every February 12, it is the International Day against the use of child soldiers. And on this very day, Non-Government Organizations, interested parties and individuals usually create events to raise public awareness the problem of child soldiers. For law enforcement, we should have stricter persecution. African government needs to ensure the proper persecution of criminals who uses children as weapons and soldiers. For schooling, we should have more education to the children. Education is one big way to resolve this issue. Children are basically our future. If we give proper education to the children in Africa, they will have more knowledge and intelligence to improve and change the government and the system. Whether a child soldier is part of the military or apart from it, they need to find a safe place or a shelter. African government should build more shelters and agencies in order to help those escaped children soldiers, let them know they actually have a place to run off to; and agencies should track down the offenders and report it back to law enforcement. On the one hand *where is the other hand?*, in so little we control, there are things that we can still do to help the children in Africa. For example, we can support local human rights groups or those interested parties, and we can encourage the media to recognise their responsibility in the promotion of child rights. In that way, we can raise the public awareness and it might resulted as to urge African government to pass laws that remove the use of child soldiers.

In brief, there are so many organisations in the world trying to do these live-saving work ; however, a lot of child soldiers are still existing in Africa and they cannot do anything just because they were born there. Based on what UN, NGOs and other individuals did, the whole situation did improve tremendously, but just not enough to end the use of child soldiers. It is time for us to take a stand, put the media in good use, and put pressure on governments in order to see some changes. We should be committed to this, and we want to see Africa government’s commitment as well. According to UDHR, (article 1) “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” For we are equal and born free, everyone should have the right to live in peaceful and safe environment, so are these children soldiers in Africa.

Webzine Revised Draft

For this draft, I quoted from UNCRC to the problems in Qatar since Qatar has signed it and it will be helpful to back my arguments up with the articles in UNCRC. I informed the audience that Qatar signed the UNCRC to make my quote from UNCRC meaningful. I extended the problems about child marriage in paragraph 2. I extended paragraph 3 and quoted from UNCRC and further explained child abuse. I added support to the issue about World Cup 2022 by emphasising the popularity of its problems outside Qatar.  I extended paragraph 6 by explaining more how the violation of migrant workers relates to children's rights and I quoted from UDHR. I extended paragraph 7 and explained more about child orphans resulted from the deaths from World Cup 2022 construction. I restated the main points in the conclusion and extended the solution part. I added quick links of the sources I related to below the essay.

(1171 words)
Topic: Children's Rights In Qatar

     Qatar is a sovereign Arab emirate located in Western Asia/Middle East. 86% of the 1 million population in Qatar are foreigners. Immigrants are mostly Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, Iranians, Filipinos, Egyptians and Sri Lankans. According to Forbes, Qatar is now one of the richest countries in the world. However, it does not necessarily mean that it has successfully brought its citizens a good quality of life. Even though Qatar has great economic potential to fulfil its people’s demand, it chooses to exploit them instead. Both male and female adults and children are being violated in terms of human rights. For this essay, I am going to focus on Children's rights in Qatar. Children are physically and sexually abused, do not have access to education, are too young to be married,  are forced to become labours, and are in threat of being orphans. Before we go in depth to the children's rights that are violated, we should keep in mind that Qatar has signed and ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child by 1995. In other words, they agree to not offend children’s rights and it is their duty not to violate the rights.

     Female children in particular are not prepared for being married in many ways. Girls are mentally, physically and financially not well-developed enough for marriage. “According to Humanium, the minimum marriage for a girl is 16 years old while for boys it is 18 years old. In other words, children might have to marry before they have the ability to work since at this age they should be still going to school. Also, at this age children are still growing and developing but instead they will have to marry to take on more pressure they are not ready to handle yet, for example, dealing with family relationship, having a chance of being pregnant, having to earn money to support family, and there will also be a increased rate of domestic violence since domestic violence is a common issue in Qatar. Research also has found that there will be a greater chance for child brides to be infected with sexually transmitted disease, suffering from obesity and many other health problems. According to article 27 the UNCRC, "Children have the right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their physical and mental needs." It has clearly stated that children are expected to have good physical and mental health. However, being married will only lead them to risks of having diseases, suffering from domestic problems and being financially burdened for supporting family. 

      Children are constantly suffering from a wide range of abuses from different people. According to Humaium, parents think using violence against children is normal and is even necessary for teaching children. In other words, domestic abuse is a norm in Qatar and children can be abused whenever their parents feel the need to. Also, according to Scott, boys are physically abused while females are mentally abused. Those who are domestically abused are likely to abuse others at school. In other words, domestic abuse will not only harm the children themselves, and it will influence the child victims to do the same other children. According to article 19 of UNCRC, "children have the right to be protected from being hurt and mistreated, physically or mentally". It is clear that adults and children in Qatar are violating children's rights and they should never treat children with violence. 

     African children in particular are forced to be labours. These children are kidnapped and sold to become camel jockeys. According to article 4 in UDHR, "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms". This has clearly shown that Qatar is violating children's rights by having them become slaves. Also, such practice will lead them to risks of having poor working conditions that harm their health and not having the chance to access education. This violates children's rights in terms of mental and physical health, and education(I have suggested in the previous paragraph)

     Some may say that in 2005 Qatar has forbidden child labor. That means children's rights should be protected. However, the law only protects its citizens which means foreigner are still vulnerable. Also, the government sees non citizens as contract labourers and they do not deserve legal or citizenship rights. According to Human Rights Watch, nearly 90% of Qatar’s population is foreigners. In other words, nearly all of the people in Qatar are not protected by human rights. 

     Children do not have the freedom to leave Qatar since their parents are not allowed to do so. Migrant labor workers in Qatar are in control by employers. Research has found that employees are not allowed to leave the country unless their employers allow. In other words, labours are forced to do their jobs and have no freedom to quit. We should know that most labor workers bring their family to the country(especially for the construction for World Cup 2022 since it is long time work) which in turn mean that children are also not allowed to leave. According to article 13 in UDHR,  "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country". In other words, employers do not have the authority to hold migrant workers in Qatar and it is the workers' choice to leave or not leave. 

     Parents are at risk of death which might make children orphans. Constructions in Qatar has led to significant labor deaths. It is reported that the World cup 2022 has killed thousands of employees. This has also led to orphaned children. Children will risk not having access to education, food, shelter, care and many other sources that are provided and supported by parent(s). Also, children might be traumatised by the death of their parent(s) and it will lead them to mental problems. Children's right will be violated this way because they will likely not be able to grow and develop in a healthy way without their parent(s). 

      To conclude, children in Qatar suffer from mental, physical and financial problems brought by marriage; are abused from different people either mentally or physically; are forced to be labours; do not have the freedom to go to other countries; risk being orphans. To tackle the abuse problems, anti-abuse organisations and campaigns should be made to support the abused children and protest against the abusers. Also, supervision should be done in schools where abuse happens commonly such as toilets and playgrounds. There should be compulsory checkups for children’s mental and physical health to make sure they are not abused by anyone. Governments from other countries should watch and help change the problems in Qatar by supervising or warning them. More specifically, countries can end inspectors to workplaces and boycott Qatar by not benefitting them in all ways until they succeed in protecting human rights. We as global citizens should always be aware of these problems and stand up for children in Qatar by protesting or opening up organisations. 

Quick links:
Problems About Child Marriage
http://marriage.about.com/od/arrangedmarriages/a/childbride_2.htm  

UNDR
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

UNCRC - http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf

Humanium Official Website
http://www.humanium.org/en/qatar/

Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2013/country-chapters/qatar?page=3

DOHA News
http://dohanews.co/report-one-in-five-children-in-qatar-subject-to-abuse/

NACLA News
http://nacla.org/news/2014/6/19/soccer-democratic-world-cup-oligarchy

Webzine First Draft

(689 words)
Topic: Children's Rights In Qatar

Qatar is a sovereign Arab emirate located in Western Asia/Middle East. 86% of the 1 million population in Qatar are foreigners. Immigrants are from Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, Iranians, Philippinos, Egyptians, Sri Lankans According to Forbes, Qatar is now one of the richest countries in the world. However, it does not necessarily mean that they have successfully made their citizens live in a good quality of life. Even though Qatar has a great economic potential to fulfil it’s citizens’ demand, it fails to do so. 

Children are abused physically and sexually, do not have access to education, have to marry early, are forced to become labours, in threat of being orphans. 

Children have to be prepared for things they should not be experiencing at their age. “According to Humanium, the minimum marriage for a girl is 16 years old while for boys it is 18 years old. In other words, children might have to marry before they have the ability to work since at this age they should be still going to school. At this age children are still growing and developing but instead they have to marry to take on more pressure they are not ready to handle yet, for example, dealing with family relationship, having a chance of being pregnant, and there will also be a increased rate of domestic violence since domestic violence is a common issue in Qatar(I will explain later)

Children are constantly abused by their families. According to Humaium, parents do not think it is normal and even necessary to teach children through physically abusing them. In other words, we cannot stop children from being beaten/harassed unless we stop their parents Also, research has found that most domestic abuse is done mostly by moms at home. Also, education is related to domestic violence. In other words, women particularly lack education and it has led them to domestic abuses. 

Qatar has signed and ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child by 1995. In other words, they agree to not offend children’s rights and it is their duty not to violate the rights. (made a reservation for article 2 and 14)

There will be further problems if domestic abuse happens to children. According to Scott. boys are physically abused while females are mentally abused. Also, those who are domestically abused are likely to abuse others at school. In other words, domestic abuse will not only harm the children themselves, and it will influence the victims to do the same to even more children. 

According to Humanium, children, mainly Africans, are forced to be labours. According to UNDR, "No one shall be held slavery or servitude". This has clearly shown that Qatar is violating children's rights.

     Some may say that in 2005 Qatar has forbidden child labor. That means children's rights should be protected. However, the law only protects its citizens and the foreigner are still vulnerable. Also, according to a study, the government sees non citizens as contract labourers and they do not deserve legal or citizenship rights. According to Human Rights Watch, nearly 90% of Qatar’s population is foreigners. In other words, nearly all of the people in Qatar are not protected by human rights. 

People in Qatar are exploited by employers. Research has found that employees are not allowed to leave the country unless their employers allow. In other words, labours are forced to do their jobs and have no freedom to quit. Also, we should know that labor workers bring their family to the country which in turn mean that children are also not allowed to leave.  

Constructions in Qatar has led to labor deaths. It is reported that the World cup 2022 has killed thousands of employees. This has also led to orphaned children. Children's right will be violated this right because they will not likely to grow and develop with a complete family and might be traumatised by the death of their parent(s)

 Actions we can take to help children in Qatar

-anti-abuse organisations and campaigns

-supervision in schools where abuse happens commonly such as toilets and playgrounds

-compulsory checkups for children’s mental and physical health

Human Rights Research Essay Outline

Human Rights Research Essay Outline

                                                          Children’s Rights In Qatar

    

 Introduction:

According to Forbes, Qatar is now one of the richest countries in the world. However, it does not necessarily mean that they have successfully made their citizens live in a good quality of life. Even though Qatar has a great economic potential to fulfil it’s citizens’ demand, it fails to do so. 

Children are abused physically and sexually, do not have access to education, have to marry early, are forced to become labours, in threat of being orphans. 

*I will try to put some basic background information about Qatar in this introduction part, for example, the immigrants ratio, it’s location. 

Body

“According to Humanium, the minimum marriage for a girl is 16 years old while for boys it is 18 years old. In other words, children might have to marry before they have the ability to work since at this age they should be still going to school.

According to Humaium, parents do not think it is necessary for children to go to school.  

Qatar has signed and ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child by 1995. In other words, they agree to not offend children’s rights and it is their duty not to violate the rights. (made a reservation for article 2 and 14)

According to Scott, most domestic abuses are carried out by non family members such as maids and drivers

According to Scott. boys are physically abused while females are mentally abused. Also, those who are domestically abused are likely to abuse others at school. 

According to Humanium, children, mainly Africans, are forced to be labours. RefutationSome may say that in 2005 Qatar has forbidden child labor. However, the law only protects its citizens and the foreigner are still vulnerable(*there’s a great number of foreigners)

Accroding to Human Rights Watch, nearly 90% of Qatar’s population is foreigners

According to study, the government sees non citizens as contract labourers and they do not deserve legal or citizenship rights. 

Immigrants are from Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, Iranians, Philippinos, Egyptians, Sri Lankans

Citizens are not allowed to leave the country unless their employers allow. (labor workers bring their family to the country which in turn mean that children are also not allowed to leave).  

World cup 2022 kill employees>orphaned children. 

Transition/Refutation as Transition to Refined Answer or Secondary research question(s)

I will relate the UNDR, CRC with the resources that I have found. 

Refined Answer the research question, or Answer to the secondary question.

what is a secondary question?

Theoretical Discussion.

I will talk about Donnelly’s book and the Globalisation part in particular. I will explain how the world cup 2022(result of globalisation) serves as a good chance to stop human rights violations

Refutation (objection/ rebuttal)

I might give refutations after each of my paragraphs since I will be including many refutations and it will look more structured if I put an counter-argument below my argument. 

Conclusion

anti-abuse organisations and campaigns

supervision in schools where abuse happens commonly such as toilets and playgrounds

compulsory checkups for children’s mental and physical health

I will state the topic sentences again and briefly extend them.

I will focus on more suggestions since I think it is the main reason why we need to read the essay. I will reference solutions from both the resources that I have found and base on my analysis. I will give general warning if readers do not follow and listen to the things that I have mentioned. 

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/egim45egde/1-qatar/

Lab Exercise 6.13

0.Some might say that human rights have done little for these children. 1.Even though the human rights agreements may seem to have little immediate effect in the short term, they may still have value in the case of child labour.3.Human rights initiatives that bring no direct change in a government’s practices may nonetheless have positive effects by supporting local human rights advocates or delegitimating repressive regimes. Donnelly International Human Rights. page 143. 5.In this case the advocates in Calcutta benefit in a more subtle way.

Correction:

0.Some might say that human rights have done little for these children. 1.Even though the human rights agreements may seem to have little immediate effect in the short term, they may still have value in the case of child labour. 2+3. According to Jack Donnelly, the author of International Human Rights, "Human rights initiatives that bring no direct change in a government’s practices may nonetheless have positive effects by supporting local human rights advocates or delegitimating repressive regimes." (Donnelly 143) 4. In other words, human rights can be protected in indirect ways instead of through contacting with the local government. 5. In this case, the positive outcome is that the child labor the advocates in Calcutta benefit in a more subtle way, by being able to claim the legitimacy of supporting international human rights. If the Indian government chooses to disregard this source of legitimacy, they threaten their own citizens that are informed by human rights advocates.

Children’s Rights in Qatar Research: An Annotated Bibliography

(737 words)

Children’s Rights in Qatar Research: An Annotated Bibliography

I have changed the focus of my research from “labor rights” to “children’s rights”. This is because the webzine project I will be doing is also about children's rights. This way, I will be able to do quality research and work for both the research and the webzine projects. Children’s rights also include labor rights since there are child labours in Qatar. I will also try to relate the migrate workers’ violated rights(in preparation for the World Cup 2022) to children since many of these children’s lives are affected by the death of labor workers(their family members)

“World Report 2013.” Human Rights Watch. Web. 11 June 2014. 

This website first tells that the population in Qatar is mostly foreign people and then it gives an outline of the current violations of human rights, for migrant worker rights, freedom of speech, statelessness and domestic abuse.

I have chosen this website because it gives me a general knowledge about Qatar. Also, at the end of the content, it tells me an important point that even though the 2022 World Cup preparation is violating human rights, it is at the same time a good chance to enhance human rights because it is an international event that urges foreign countries to inspect Qatar. Finally, it is an scholarly website that is reliable and the information is unbiased.

“Qatar.” Children’s Rights Wiki. Web. 11 June 2014. 

This website gives basic information about children’s rights violated around the world. For instance, it tells outlines how are children’s rights violated. It also gives some quick facts about countries we choose to look up.

The main reason I have chosen this website is because it is always modified which means the information is up to date. Also, It gives me an more specific information in Qatar. From this website, I learnt specifically children’s rights that are violated in Qatar such as violence, trafficking and discrimination. It gives me clear ideas about “children’s rights” in Qatar. 

“Qatar: Persistent Violations of Children’s Rights.” CRIN. Web. 11 June 2014.

This website tells the current children’s rights that are violated and lists what kind of violations announced by organisations are related. 

 I chose this website because it tells me how the official violations that are informed internationally relate to the issues in Qatar. For example, it tells me which article in the UDHR is violated. This is definitely helpful as it is what I will involve largely in my project. 

“Building a Better World Cup”. Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch, June 2012. Web. 11    

     June 2014.

The website tells the violations in Qatar, background of the construction of World Cup 2022 and how is it violating human rights. Finally, it gives solutions to stakeholders such as FIFA and the local government.

I have chosen this website because it allows me to go in depth in the major issue of Qatar(World Cup 2022). The issue might not tell a lot about children’s rights but labours’ rights instead. However, it will allow me to do an analysis and relate labours’ affection to children’s rights. For example, children may lose their family if their parents are labours. Also, the website gives solutions that I can reference from and suggest in the soul ton part of my project. 

“Children of Qatar.” Humanium. Humanium, 2012. Web. 11 june 2014

This website gives background and statistics about children’s rights in Qatar. I have chosen this website because it suggests children’s rights violated other websites that I accessed did not mention. For example, child marriage, female genital mutilation. It also informs us what organisations we can contact to stop problems and what immediate actions we can take and I will involve this section in my project.

Scott, Victoria. “Report: One in Five children in Qatar subject to abuse”. DOHA News. DOHA News, 30 Oct. 2013. Web. 11 June 2014. 

This is the only information I have found so far that is from an specific author. It is a report about problems about children in Qatar and recommendations we can take. I have chosen this website because it is from the mass media(news reporters) instead of official sites. The report has done research and interviews himself which gives me a first hand information. Information is interviewed from local residents so that we can get a closer and realistic look of the people in Qatar.