None of this is new. There have been plenty of articles describing how expat laborers are treated in some of these Middle Eastern countries. I have family who live and work in Dubai (very near Qatar) and Ive visited a few times. Here are some of the things I've heard :
- Workers having their passports taken away so they can't leave. This is very common.
- Not being paid wages they were promised.
- Beatings and general mistreatment.
- Being made to work in extreme temperatures.
- Authorities under-reporting weather temperatures so workers cannot stop working.
- Getting thrown out of the country and/or being threatened if any complaints are made.
- Housemaids from India,Sri Lanka,Phillipines,Bangladesh etc being assaulted, beaten and sexually molested. This is shockingly common.
- Large numbers of women (girls) from Slavic and East Asian countries being imported/traded/bartered as sex workers.
- Basically - if you're brown-skinned and not a local you're like a 3rd class citizen.
- Workers having their passports taken away so they can't leave. This is very common.
- Not being paid wages they were promised.
- Beatings and general mistreatment.
- Being made to work in extreme temperatures.
- Authorities under-reporting weather temperatures so workers cannot stop working.
- Getting thrown out of the country and/or being threatened if any complaints are made.
- Housemaids from India,Sri Lanka,Phillipines,Bangladesh etc being assaulted, beaten and sexually molested. This is shockingly common.
- Large numbers of women (girls) from Slavic and East Asian countries being imported/traded/bartered as sex workers.
- Basically - if you're brown-skinned and not a local you're like a 3rd class citizen.