Qatar mulls barring workers from malls

QATAR’S only directly elected body is to vote on introducing family-only days at major shopping malls in a move dubbed a “bachelor ban” that is likely to restrict access for foreign labourers.

What sounds like an innocuous idea is proving highly contentious and threatens once more to expose the 2022 Soccer World Cup host’s fraught relationship with its vast foreign workforce.

There are about 1.8 million foreign workers, mostly male, who make up about 90% of the population in the tiny Gulf state. Many work on major infrastructure projects related to the World Cup.

The proposal, to be voted on by the Central Municipal Council on Tuesday, would restrict entrance to the country’s eight biggest malls to families on one day each weekend, Friday or Saturday.

Many blue-collared male workers who have moved to Qatar alone, sometimes leaving behind families, would in effect be banned from entering the country’s most popular malls, potentially on the only day of the week they get to relax.

The proposal is being championed by council member Nasser Bin Ibrahim Al-Mohannadi, who claims the presence of male labourers in the malls is intimidating for locals, especially women.

“Qatar is a familybased society, and it is the right of families to have a day especially for them,” he said.

“Malls are not just for shopping but also for entertainment and family gatherings.”

Mohannadi, who represents the city of AlKhor, about 50km north of Doha, said locals there had complained to him about the “large number” of labourers gathering in one of the city’s malls.

The council does not have the power to enforce the ban, but has asked the economy and commerce ministry to intervene to ensure malls comply. An official from that department will attend Tuesday’s meeting.

The proposal has caught the eye of human rights groups, which have warned the policy could further affect Qatar’s reputation, which has been savaged since it was awarded soccer’s biggest tournament.

“This looks like discrimination by stealth,” said Nicholas McGeehan, Gulf researcher at Human Rights Watch. He said the proposal raises the prospect of “segregation”.

It follows the recent publication of a map by the urban planning ministry showing areas in Qatar designated “no-go zones” for labourers’ homes. — AFP