QATAR

Qatar borders the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia, ruled by an absolute hereditary monarchy. Primarily Qatar relies on oil and gas revenues, which has influenced the country's sustained growth. Its natural gas reserves represent at least 13% of global reserves, making Qatar the third country in terms of gas reserves. Pre-independence oil and gas exploitation imported labour from the Arab Middle East and the Indian sub-continent to work in the oil industry due to the low level of literacy and industrial skills among the Qataris. Modern hydrocarbon extraction, particularly during the oil price hike in the mid to late 2000s, meant Qatar continued to rely on foreign labour and immigrants to increase production. The oil rent guaranteed improved living standards for migrants, protection, and security such as housing grants and accessible health care. Also, the immigrant population increased in recent times due to events such as the massive rise in recruitment of workers by the construction industry to support the infrastructural envelopment of the country following the award of the 2022 world Cup to Qatar. However, migrants have also faced the issues of infringement on labour and human rights and problems of food insecurity.

Qatar

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RESEARCH on Qatar

MiFOOD PAPERS

JOURNAL ARTICLES

The Last Straw? Experiences and Future Plans of Returned Migrants in the India-GCC Corridor

In this article, we explore how precise information about migrants' working conditions in their destination countries impacts their decision to migrate again upon returning home. Using household data from Kerala and Tamil Nadu from 2020–21, we study return emigrants (REM) who returned during the first COVID-19 lockdowns in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Through a binary choice model, we discover that negative experiences in the destination country significantly influence the decision to re-migrate. Specifically, issues with salary payment and ...

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Food Security and Migrant Workers in Qatar

The project is part of the Migration and Food Insecurity in Cities of the Global South project (MiFood Project), which offers the opportunity to expand the network to additional countries including Qatar in the Hungry Cities Partnership that has currently partners in eight countries: Canada, China, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Mozambique and South Africa. Learn more

South-South Migration: Examining the Links Between Food Security and Migration from Ghana to Qatar

This PhD research study aims to contribute to the emerging literature on labour migration from Ghana to the Gulf with a particular focus on Qatar. In particular, the project seeks to 1) understand the role of food insecurity as a driver of migration from Ghana to the Gulf; 2) examine the coping strategies and food security experience of Ghanaian labour migrants in Qatar; and 3) to assess whether and how migrant remittances from Qatar impact household food and nutritional security ...

BOOK CHAPTER

Impact of COVID-19 on Women Migrant Workers: Case of Domestic Workers in the South Asia-Gulf Corridor

S Irudaya Rajan & Rakkee Thimothy  •  The chapter examines the impact of COVID-19 on low skilled women migrant workers by taking up the case of domestic workers from South Asia to the Gulf. The chapter builds on the extensive literature on the vulnerabilities faced by women migrant domestic workers and presents evidence of their extreme vulnerability during COVID-19. Their situation is made worse by the paternalistic attitude of the sending countries to protect women migrant domestic workers. At the ...

THESES

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