Sultan Al Dosari, Minister of Labour, was in Bangladesh yesterday to sign an agreement that would facilitate recruitment of manpower to the country, said the source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

The minister is due to sign a similar protocol with his Sri Lankan counterpart on January 9 to recruit at least 55,000 labourers from Sri Lanka in the next 10 months.

Qatar's demand for manpower for its booming oil and gas industries and construction sector matches Asian governments' efforts to cut unemployment rates and draw worker remittances.

Ecalating costs

But escalating living costs, unpaid overtime and difficult working and living conditions have brought about protests and strikes by workers in the past year, which have resulted in illegal arrests and forcible deportations, a human rights activist told Gulf News on of anonymity.

"We are concerned about the future of these workers. The Qatari labour legislation has loopholes that allow sponsors and employers to overlook their obligations," the source said.

"We have asked for major amendments, in particular with regard to the sponsorship rules, at least to allow abused workers to change sponsors without facing repatriation or arrest."

The two memoranda of understanding with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka follow the signing of an additional protocol with Nepal, which aimed to ensure Qatar's commitment to improve Nepalese workers' rights and recruitment conditions.

String of suicides

In 2007 a string of suicides and deaths due to on-the-job accidents and serious health conditions among Nepalese brought the death toll above 100, creating panic among workers in several workers' accommodation and threatening future recruitment.

According to the latest statistics available with the embassies and foreign ministries of Asian countries, Qatar currently hosts 313,000 Indians, 266,000 Nepalese, 130,000 Sri Lankans and more than 100,000 Filipinos.

The total number of just these four communities reach 800,000 people, out of a million residents, a majority of whom are low income workers.

Gulfnews