Human Rights Watch — World Report 2026: Qatar Chapter
Human Rights Watch's World Report 2026 country chapter on Qatar remains one of the most comprehensive negative assessments of the country's human rights record currently circulating. The chapter documents persistent migrant worker abuses under the kafala sponsorship system despite years of announced reforms: widespread wage theft, unexplained deaths of workers that authorities fail to investigate or attribute, dangerous working conditions including extreme heat exposure, and weak or selective enforcement of the labor reforms Qatar promoted internationally around the 2022 World Cup. Beyond labor, the report details restrictions on freedom of expression — including prosecution of critics and tight control of media — and systemic discrimination against women under male guardianship policies, criminalization and abuse of LGBT people, and unequal treatment of religious minorities. The chapter serves as an authoritative, citable baseline for researchers assessing the gap between Qatar's reform rhetoric and documented practice.
Key Facts
- Wage theft against migrant workers remains widespread despite announced kafala reforms
- Migrant worker deaths routinely go uninvestigated and unexplained by Qatari authorities
- Labor reforms promoted around the 2022 World Cup suffer from weak and selective enforcement
- Freedom of expression is restricted, with critics facing prosecution
- Women face discrimination under male guardianship policies; LGBT people face criminalization and abuse
- Religious minorities face unequal treatment
Entities Mentioned
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