The State of the World's Human Rights; Qatar 2025

Migrant workers remained vulnerable to labour abuses and exploitation despite recent reforms. Freedom of expression and peaceful assembly continued to be tightly restricted. Religious minorities, women, children and LGBTI people continued to face discrimination in law and practice. Qatar remained a leading exporter of liquefied natural gas.

Background

In March the UN Human Rights Council adopted the results of Qatar’s UPR. Qatar received 317 recommendations of which it accepted 245 and took note of the remaining 72. The latter included recommendations related to labour rights and migrant worker protection.

In September, Israel conducted an air strike on Qatar’s capital, Doha, targeting the Hamas negotiating team, killing six men including Hamas members and a Qatari official.

Migrants’ rights

Despite recent legal reforms, migrant workers continued to face labour abuses, including an exploitative kafala sponsorship system, restrictions on freedom of assembly, inadequate access to justice and remedy, and excessive powers of employers to control workers’ entry, residency and ability to change jobs.

The monthly minimum wage of QAR 1,000 (USD 275), introduced in 2021, had yet to be adjusted to rising living costs, leaving it insufficient for migrant workers to meet living costs.

Domestic workers, primarily women, continued to face harsh working conditions and abuses, including verbal, physical and sexual assault, with weak protections as they remained excluded from the labour law.

Authorities failed to conduct meaningful investigations into the deaths of migrant workers, denying their families accountability and compensation. Qatar and the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), failed to ensure justice or compensation for thousands of workers for abuses linked to the 2022 World Cup, including deaths, injuries and unpaid wages.

Freedom of expression and assembly

Authorities maintained tight restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

In March, Qatari authorities arrested 20 Filipino nationals, including three children, for participating in a protest supporting former Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte, who was on trial at the ICC for crimes against humanity. The authorities accused them of holding an unauthorized political demonstration but released the children shortly afterwards and the adults one week later. All charges were dropped.

In August the government amended the cybercrime law, criminalizing the online publication or circulation of images and videos of individuals in public spaces without their consent. Although the authorities presented the amendment as a step to protect privacy, its provisions remained vague and posed a serious threat to freedom of expression and independent journalism.

Arbitrary arrests and detentions

In March, Abdullah Ibhais, former media manager for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, was released from prison after serving his full three-year sentence. He had been arrested in 2019 on trumped-up bribery charges after raising concerns about the conditions faced by migrant workers on World Cup construction sites.

In April the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found the detention of Tayeb Benabderrahmane, a French-Algerian former adviser to Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee, to be arbitrary. He had been arrested in January 2020 and held for 307 days without access to legal counsel, in violation of fair trial guarantees. Authorities accused him of “intelligence with a foreign power and espionage”.

Freedom of religion and belief

Members of Qatar’s Baha’i community continued to face systemic discrimination and restrictions on their religious freedoms.

In April, 71-year-old Remy Rowhani, the chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is, was re-arrested in relation to posts on the Baha’i community’s social media accounts. He was sentenced in August to five years in prison for “promot[ing] a doctrine or ideology that casts doubt on the foundations and teachings of Islam”. On 30 September the Court of Appeal acquitted Remy Rowhani, leading to his release from prison.

Women’s rights

Women continued to face discrimination in law and practice, notably through a male guardianship system that restricted their rights to marry, work, travel (if under the age of 25) and access reproductive healthcare. Qatari women remained unable to pass their nationalities to their children or foreign spouses.

The Penal Code still lacked specific provisions criminalizing gender-based violence, including within the family, leaving women inadequately protected.

Children’s rights

In June the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child criticized Qatar’s discriminatory nationality and birth registration laws and its punitive juvenile justice system, calling for reforms to guarantee equal nationality rights, universal birth registration, and stronger safeguards for children in conflict with the law.

LGBTI people’s rights

Legislation continued to criminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations, making it punishable with imprisonment, and provided no legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Right to a healthy environment

Qatar remained one of the world’s leading exporters of liquefied natural gas, contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. Qatar took steps to address its climate impact, including by building new solar power plants and publishing a national plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030. However, it failed to commit to a net zero target.