I am more optimistic than you. I have seen changes since I got here in 2004 -- think of the child jockeys! To me that is evidence that international pressure CAN change the human rights situation in Qatar. Thinking even more broadly, it's been less than a generation since Qatar had outright slavery. So it is making human rights progress much more quickly than the U.S. did in the 19th century!
Another reason for optimism is that the lives of workers could be profoundly improved even without any rules being changed. If the current labor law were enforced -- if there were penalties for companies that didn't pay their workers, or didn't provide adequate housing under the current law -- things would improve significantly.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Rules?
Date: 2007-08-03 01:13 pm (UTC)Another reason for optimism is that the lives of workers could be profoundly improved even without any rules being changed. If the current labor law were enforced -- if there were penalties for companies that didn't pay their workers, or didn't provide adequate housing under the current law -- things would improve significantly.