Towards a Special Circumstances Contextualisation of Qatar’s Migrant Labour Policy and Practice

Abstract

This dissertation is a textual analysis of the sustainability under international law of the concerted criticisms of Qatar from a diverse range actors regarding its sponsorship system, particularly after award by FIFA in 2010 of the right to host the 2022 World Cup, and the consequent rapid acceleration of infrastructure programme to establish the facilities and amenities required for that event. The dissertation contextualises the ‘decontextualized criticisms’ against Qatar’s migrant labour system, also known as kafala. It invokes relevant jurisprudence of international tribunals to justify Qatar’s eligibility for special circumstance exceptions to general rules of international that its critics have relied upon and shows that perhaps the kafala may not after all be inconsistent with Qatar’s obligations under international law. The hypothesis of the dissertation is that, if Qatar could successfully plead the special circumstances principle regarding complaints against its kafala system, then, the criticisms levelled against its sponsorship system, are probably unsustainable under international law.