Emergency Statecraft, Lockdown Vulnerability, and Food Insecurity Among Migrant Workers in Qatar During COVID-19

This report has shone a spotlight on the plight of a group of Ghanaian migrant workers stranded in Qatar before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. As the first study of its kind in Qatar, this report breaks new ground by investigating the impact of COVID-19 on the food security of migrants stranded in the Gulf during the pandemic. The experiences of the Ghanaians in lockdown Qatar illuminate how pandemic governance, migration regimes, and food security intersect in ways that reproduce vulnerability even within a robust food system that ensures availability but not accessibility for all. The pandemic exposed the limits of Qatar’s food security model and emergency statecraft. As global attention shifts towards building resilience against future crises, this audit highlights the everyday challenges of those whose labour sustains the economies of the Gulf yet whose access to food security is far from unconditional.