The following is a guest post by, Ali Ebshara, a foreign law intern working with Foreign Law Specialist George Sadek at the Global Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress. The State of Qatar is scheduled to host the World Cup for Soccer in November 2022. The Qatari government adopted an array of domestic legislation in relation to the organization of this global sport event. In this two-part blog, I will discuss legal issues addressed by this domestic legislation. Those issues are:
Behavior of foreign nationals visiting the country during the World Cup;
The entry and exit of fans interested in attending the tournament;
Financial transactions carried out by fans and organizers;
The rights of broadcasting games;
Intellectual property rights of FIFA; and
The establishment of a security commission supervising the security of the world cup tournament.
Laws on the Rights of Foreign Workers
Qatar has announced that it is in the process of recruiting 12,000 foreign workers to work in the field of tourism and hospitality in order to meet the needs of fans visiting Qatar during the 2022 Soccer World Cup. The foreign workers will be hired on a temporary basis. Over the past 10 years, Qatar has recruited foreign workers to construct new airports, roads, and public transport systems in preparation for the event.
According to a report issued in June 2020 by the Planning and Statistic Authority of the State of Qatar, there are almost two million foreign nationals working in Qatar. (Report at 10). Seventy-nine percent of them work as craftsmen and machinery operators and have an educational level below secondary school. (Id. at 16.)
In 2017, Qatar partnered with the International Labor Organization to protect the rights of foreign workers recruited to work in the country. Qatar aimed at bringing its labor environment up to standards and has passed a number of laws geared toward creating a better labor environment in the country.
