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