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.

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