A/HRC/44/57/Add.1 it fails to specify the number of breaks or count breaks as part of the 10 working hours. Employers are prohibited from forcing domestic workers to work while on sick leave but the law does not contain provisions for sick leave itself. This is in stark contrast to the Labour Law, which provides for two weeks of sick leave at full pay, four weeks at half pay and unpaid leave thereafter. The absence of labour inspections further magnifies these challenges and traps domestic workers in exploitative and abusive households. 32. Furthermore, because the Labour Law does not apply to domestic workers, this atrisk segment of the population remains subject to the requirement of employer permission in order to leave the country. 33. The Special Rapporteur received reports that contract substitution, in which workers sign contracts in their native language only to later discover that the Arabic versions of their contracts has unfavourable terms, is a common practice affecting all migrant workers. In such cases, there is no recourse for workers since both the Labour Law and the domestic workers law state that the Arabic text is authoritative. 34. As stated by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, domestic workers continue to face significant barriers to bringing complaints against their employers and obtaining redress in cases of abuse, including owing to fear of retaliation, detention or deportation.28 The isolation of domestic workers makes it impossible for many to even access the different labour justice mechanisms that may be available to them in principle. The most vulnerable live in abject terror, reinforced by the threat of “absconding” charges and the reasonable fear that their abusers will use morality laws, which criminalize premarital sex, to accuse them of zina (consensual illicit sexual acts).29 According to the information received, while the national committee for combating trafficking in persons is planning to operate shelters for victims of trafficking, there is no government-run shelter for domestic workers in Qatar. C. Detention and deportation 35. Law No. 21 of 2015 prohibits workers from leaving their employment prior to the fulfilment of their contracts; doing so is punishable by imprisonment (a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of three years) or a fine of no less than 20,000 Qatari riyals. The gravity of these penalties mean that employers can use the threat of detention and deportation to force migrant workers to work in exploitative conditions, enduring a range of abuses, including non-payment or delayed payment of salaries, excessive workloads, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, and severe psychological, physical and sexual abuse. The immense power employers wield is a significant barrier to migrant workers’ access to justice, undermines the rule of law, and fosters a culture of impunity. 36. Employers are required by law to apply for and renew employees’ residency permits, but the law penalizes employees for violations of that provision. Migrant workers are fined 10 Qatari riyals per day for failure to comply with the country’s labour and immigration laws.30 Law enforcement officers also detain or deport migrant workers for changing jobs without their employer’s permission and charge them with absconding. Such restrictions make migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation, and prevent them from exercising the right to free choice of employment enshrined in article 5 (e) (i) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 37. Articles 281 and 282 of the Penal Code criminalize extramarital relationships.31 The Special Rapporteur shares the concerns raised by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 28 29 30 31 CEDAW/C/QAT/CO/2, para. 45 (b). Ana P. Santos, “Where pregnancy is a prison sentence”, BRIGHT Magazine, 16 January 2018. Available from https://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/where-pregnancy-prison-sentence. See also A/HRC/26/35/Add.1, para. 53. Global Detention Project, “Qatar immigration detention profile” (2016). Available from www.almeezan.qa/LawPage.aspx?id=26&language=en. 9