Qatar is an authoritarian and de facto absolute monarchy under the House of Thani. Qatari law does not permit the establishment of political bodies or trade unions. Awareness of human rights abuses in Qatar grew internationally after Qatar's controversial selection to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Human Rights Watch reported in 2026 that migrant workers, which make up over 91 percent of the country's population, "continue to face widespread abuse under the country’s restrictive kafala system". Women and girls in Qatar are still subject to extensive legal and social discrimination under a male guardianship system.
Domestic servants, who are often women from poorer African, South, and Southeast Asian countries, have little to no rights and often become victims of human and sex trafficking, including into prostitution. Individual rights and civil liberties in general are also highly restrictive in Qatar, such as the freedom of association, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press. In addition, sodomy laws exist for both males and females, but are mostly used to punish members of the LGBTQ community. Qatar's legal system is a mixture of civil law and Islamic law (Sharia). Flogging and capital punishment are also enforced.
Legal system and punishment According to Qatar's constitution, Sharia is a main source of Qatari legislation. Sharia is applied to statutes pertaining to family law, inheritance, and several criminal acts (including adultery, robbery and murder). In some cases in Sharia-based family courts a woman's testimony is worth half a man's, and in some cases a female and male testimony is not accepted at all if the witness is not deemed reliable. Codified family law was introduced in 2006. In 2002, a government-appointed organisation—the National Human Rights Committee—was established to supposedly investigate abuses. In practice, Qatar's legal system is a mixture of civil law and Islamic law.
Corporal punishment In 2022, the Qatar delegation to the OHCHR claimed that flogging sentences have never been used in Qatar, but later also stated that "Flogging of minors was prohibited; that punishment was only applied to adults". Amnesty International reports unnamed "foreign nationals" being given flogging sentences as a punishment for alcohol consumption or illicit sexual relations. The US Department of State reported that in 2019 there were 375 cases of flogging as a punishment. In April 2013, a Muslim expatriate was sentenced to 40 lashes for alcohol consumption. In June 2014, another Muslim expatriate was sentenced to 40 lashes for consuming alcohol and driving under the influence. Muslims convicted of zina (unlawful sexual intercourse such as adultery and bestiality) can be sentenced to flogging.
Capital punishment
Qatar has the death penalty, primarily for espionage or other threats against national security. Apostasy, same-sex intercourse, and blasphemy are considered capital offences. There have been no recorded applications of the death penalty for blasphemy.
Others crimes, like murder, violent robbery resulting in death, arson, torture, kidnapping, terrorism, rape, drug trafficking, extortion by threat of accusation of a crime of honor, perjury causing wrongful execution, and treason carry a possible death sentence.
Stoning is no longer a legal punishment in Qatar, and has never been used. Apostasy is a crime punishable by the death penalty in Qatar. Homosexuality is a crime punishable in sharia by the death penalty for Muslims, though in Qatar the penalty for consenting males is up to 5 years in prison.
Capital punishment in Qatar is done by a firing squad. Executions are rare. The last execution occurred in May 2020, after a 17-year hiatus. The person executed was a murderer from Nepal.
Labour
As of 2026, both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have determined that foreign labourers in Qatar face widespread abuses under a "restrictive" and "exploitative" Kafala system. Human Rights Watch's report said that reforms have had "limited impact", and that the country has failed to address serious violations against workers, who still "face wage theft, unexplained deaths, dangerous working conditions and continued exploitation".
Background
The foreign worker population
As of 2025, foreign workers make up around 91% of Qatar's population, and constitute around 95% of its labour force. Naturalizations are "almost non-existent" in Qatar, and foreign workers are meant to stay only for the duration of their work, leading the International Labour Organization to claim that Qatar does not consider this population as "migrant workers", but rather as "guests" or "non-Qataris".
According to a report from 2017, the combined number of South Asians (from the countries of the Indian subcontinent including Sri Lanka) represented over 1.5 million people (60%). Among these, Indians were the largest community, numbering 650,000 in 2017, followed by 350,000 Nepalese, 280,000 Bangladeshis, 145,000 Sri Lankans, and 125,000 Pakistanis.
The contingent of expatriates who were not of South Asian origin represented around 28% of Qatar's population. The largest group within this category was Filipinos (260,000) and Egyptians (200,000), alongside communities from Arab countries, Europe and elsewhere.
Of the foreign migrant population, a study from 2019 has found that over half have strong depression-like symptoms.
Kafala system
Foreign labourers in Qatar, as well as in other Gulf Arab states, are subjected to the Kafala system, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation. Under this system, the private company or individual sponsors their employees recruited from abroad in a scheme which grants them complete control over the worker's decision to transfer jobs as well their permissions to exit or re-enter the country. Workers also face difficulties in reporting contractual disputes and labour violations to relevant authorities as a result of this system. Additionally, the confiscation of an employee's personal possessions such as their passport and personal phone is a common practice, which limits their freedom of movement.
In 2021 the Foreign Ministry issued guidance for citizens travelling abroad with servants, nannies or drivers.
Human rights of foreign labourers
Before 2010 Even before 2010, when Qatar was granted hosting rights for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the human rights situation of foreign workers in the country was criticized by international human rights organizations. Workers had reported "being treated like cattle with long hours and no days off", and studies of working conditions reported high death rates. A report by Qatar's own government had found almost 1,000 deaths due to working conditions, and others had reported higher numbers.
Increased scrutiny and concerns following the granting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup
In 2010, Qatar receiving the rights to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup brought renewed interest in previous reports on the systemic abuse of foreign workers in the country, as well as much-increased scrutiny and new reports, investigations and statements by various international human rights and news organizations.
Various organizations expressed concern both about the message of choosing such a country to host the World Cup, and about the potential human costs of the massive construction boom required for the hosting. Human Rights Watch has stated that "FIFA granted Qatar the games in 2010, with no human rights due diligence and no set conditions about protections for migrant workers who would be needed to construct the massive infrastructure."
In 2016, a BBC reporting crew was jailed for two days without charge, after attempting to meet migrant workers.
Reforms and continued abuse up to 2026 Between 2014 and 2021, Qatar has announced and enacted many steps of reform, including announcing multiple times that the Kafala system was effectively abolished."Qatar Finalising New Sponsorship Law for Foreign Workers." , Al-Araby_Al-Jadeed, 2014. Web. Despite these steps, in their reports for the year 2025 both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have found that foreign labourers in Qatar continue to face widespread abuses under a "restrictive" and "exploitative" Kafala system. Human Rights Watch's report said that the reforms have had "limited impact", and that the country has failed to address serious violations against workers, who still "face wage theft, unexplained deaths, dangerous working conditions and continued exploitation after the tournament."
Role of International Labour Organization In 2014, amid growing international scrutiny of Qatar's treatment of foreign workers in the lead-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, international trade unions filed a formal complaint with the International Labour Organization (ILO), accusing Qatar of failing to address forced labour and widespread workers' rights violations.
In March 2023, The New York Times alleged that Qatar "embarked on a yearslong campaign of political maneuvering that helped turn the [ILO]... from critic to ally", and that intense lobbying by Qatari diplomats, rallying "employers and countries with Qatari business interests", successfully prevented the ILO from opening an investigation.
The ILO closed the complaint in 2017, and instead established a established a "Technical Cooperation Program" to help strengthen Qatar's labour regulations. As part of this arrangement, Qatar contributed $25 million to the ILO, which funded the opening of a dedicated ILO project office in Doha in 2018. The ILO stated that the funding was standard practice and did not compromise its mandate, but critics, including a former ILO official, questioned the organization's independence, and noted that the Qatari contribution was initially undisclosed, and of an unusually large sum.
The ILO frequently commended Qatar for implementing labour reforms, such as setting a minimum wage, restricting summertime working hours, and supposedly dismantling the kafala system, consistently taking a positive view. A 2022 ILO report stated that these reforms positively impacted "hundreds of thousands" of migrant workers, a statement repeated by a Qatari official speaking to Financial Times in 2025. A former ILO official told The Guardian in 2023 that the ILO had been "whitewashing Qatar", and that it produced "biased" reports about its reforms. Several current and former employees of the ILO told The New York Times that the organization "often treated Qatar more like a paying client than a country under scrutiny".
ILO officials justified the organization's blunted criticism by saying that the improvements it achieved via cooperation with Qatar were won through "delicate negotiations", and that "criticism... would have undermined that progress"; but, according to The New York Times, "labor advocates, human rights groups and some politicians said they were stunned by what they saw as one-sided public statements that minimized problems". The ILO maintained that while it did point to "the positive trajectory of labour reforms in Qatar", it also continued to "highlight specific gaps and challenges that remain in implementation and enforcement".
Women's rights
Male guardianship system As of 2026, women and girls in Qatar are still subject to extensive legal and social discrimination under a male guardianship system. They must receive permission from male guardians "to marry, travel abroad, work in many government jobs, study on scholarships, and access some reproductive health services". Married women can by default travel without permission, but a male guardian can petition a court to issue a travel ban.
A number of women have fled Qatar for the UK because of abuse under the guardianship system.