Webinar: Labor Rights, Qatar, and the World Cup

Please join the Department of Political Science and the Middle East North African Studies program for an online panel discussion Thursday, December 1st at 12:00 PM: 

Labor Rights, Qatar, and the World Cup

12 years after it was awarded to Qatar, the 2022 World Cup continues to attract considerable media attention over the treatment of non-citizen labor in the host country. Accusations that Qatar’s “kafala” labor-sponsorship system still amounts to “modern slavery” have been met by counter-claims that Qatar is being unfairly singled out for international human-rights criticism, both compared to past hosts such as Russia and to neighboring Gulf monarchies that rely on similar labor policies. In this event, we are joined by experienced advocates for migrant workers in the MENA region to understand just how Qatar has (and has not) reformed its labor laws under the spotlight of global media attention.

Panelists:

Vani Saraswathi is an experienced journalist based in the GCC who has covered human rights stories for decades. She is the Editor-at-Large and Director of Projects at Migrant-Rights.org, a news portal and advocacy organization for migrant labor rights in the MENA region.

Roula Seghaier is an experienced community organizer in the MENA region and an award-winning novelist. She is currently the Strategic Program Coordinator at the International Domestic Workers Federation.

The panel will be moderated by Andrew Leber, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Middle East & North African (MENA) Studies program.

The discussion will be followed by a moderated Q&A. Attendees must register to attend.