Amnesty International

The beauty of the Doha skyline masks many sad stories of exploitation. 

Migrants make up 94% of the workforce in Qatar and many are forced to 

live and work in extremely poor, sometimes fatal, conditions.

Migrant construction workers often work excessive hours, 

sometimes up to 14 hours a day or seven days a week.

For example, it is 10 pm here and there are still 

construction sounds outside of our compound.

Poor conditions at the PCSI workers’ labour camp in Doha’s Industrial Area. 
PCSI Specialties Qatar (PCSI) is a construction company.

This accommodation was being used to house old paints and waste materials, 

which were stored alongside workers’ bedrooms and the kitchen, October 

2012, Qatar. Old construction materials littered external areas and corridors. 

Discarded electrical cables and what appeared to be spilled oil were left in the 

corridors inside the accommodation. The conditions which Amnesty International 

observed were potentially very dangerous to the health and safety of the workers, 

as well as impairing the basic quality of life of the workers.

A cooking area in a migrant labour camp in Qatar.

In Qatar every worker is supposed to have four square meters of personal 

space. Despite this, many are crammed into smaller, often unsanitary quarters.

All photos and text courtesy of Amnesty International, 2013.