22/04/2021 Salary Abuses Facing Migrant Workers Ahead of Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022 | HRW Researchers interviewed workers in a wide variety of locations, and at various times of day, in NOW DONATE Summary Qatar. Some interviews were conducted over the phone, especially with workers who have returned to India, Kenya, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Researchers met migrant workers in various public spaces. As workers live, work, and congregate in crowded conditions with limited private space, Human Rights Watch could not conduct one-on-one interviews in completely private settings. The workers interviewed are employed by diverse employers in various fields and include managers, surveyors, and engineers, as well as laborers and domestic workers. Despite these differences, workers reported strikingly similar forms of abuse. Human Rights Watch interviewed workers in English, as well as Hindi, Urdu, and Arabic. In each case, Human Rights Watch explained the purpose of the interview, how it would be used and distributed, and obtained consent to include their experiences and recommendations in the report. None of the interviewees received financial compensation or other incentives for speaking with Human Rights Watch. Most of the workers Human Rights Watch interviewed expressed fear for their jobs and their immigration status if their employers found that they had spoken about their working conditions to a human rights organization. Researchers interviewed them on the condition that Human Rights Watch would not use their names, and many requested that the name of the company that employed them not be mentioned. Their requests reflect the degree of control employers hold over workers, and workers’ fear of retaliation and abuse should they attempt to exercise their rights. Human Rights Watch sent letters to 11 companies in labor supply and construction sectors requesting their input on migrant workers’ payment policies in Qatar. As of August 1, 2020, Human Rights Watch has received no response(s) from these companies. Researchers also spoke with representatives of the Qatar National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), a government-funded human rights organization in Doha, as well as the International Labour Organization (ILO). Researchers also interviewed professors who are experts on migration policy, migration ethics and human rights, and other human rights researchers, and reviewed relevant academic literature, news articles, and reports published by NGOs and international institutions. The report uses an exchange rate of 1 Qatari Riyal (QR), also written as riyal in this report, equal to US$0.27; 1 Kenyan Shilling equal to QR0.03 or $0.009; 1 Philippine Peso equal to QR0.07 or $0.02; 1 Indian Rupee equal to QR0.05 or $0.01; 1 Nepalese Rupee equal to QR0.03 or $0.008; except where a historical exchange rate is warranted.[5] https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/08/24/how-can-we-work-without-wages/salary-abuses-facing-migrant-workers-ahead-qatars 8/62