Labourers in Qatar

SIR – The theme to this week’s meeting of Commonwealth heads in London is “Towards a common future”, specifically focusing on young people and giving them a voice on key issues such as human rights. As a former minister, I am very aware of this important issue.

Most labourers in the Middle East come from Commonwealth countries; 36 per cent of the Qatari population is Indian or Pakistani. Over the past couple of years, there has been intense focus and pressure on the Qataris to improve the rights of Commonwealth citizens working in the country.

This has resulted in significant changes which Impactt, an independent labour rights monitoring organisation, describes as a “human rights dividend”. Qatar is also referred to as a “regional role model”.

Britain, which now will become the “chair-in-office” of the Commonwealth until 2020, can use this alliance and summit to promote further human rights improvements for its Commonwealth citizens, not just in Qatar but right across the region, especially in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Baroness Verma (Con)

London SW1