Somalia and Qatar have signed a labor agreement which will lead to employ 10, 000 Somali youths who are skilled or unskilled to work in the Gulf state of Qatar, Somali State News Agency reported on Friday. The labor pact was announced follows an official visit that a Somali delegation embarked to Doha, Qatar’s capital.
Officials told that the new employment pact between the two countries is intended to mitigate the widespread unemployment in Somalia while Qatar is exploiting the Somali youth due to lack of foreign workers in Qatar. A press statement issued by the ministry of labor and social affairs said that the labor agreement is seen as a crucial step which is aimed to strengthen the bilateral ties between Qatar and Somalia.
Somalia has not so far announced a specific date that the new employees will be dispatched to Qatar. Qatar was accused of violating the rights of foreign workers, particularly when Qatar was gearing up to host the 2022 World Cup and was building stadiums.
Human rights groups have accused that foreign workers in Qatar are not paid, injustice and worker deaths. Qatar has repudiated the allegations while it argued that it has taken measures which are aimed to reform its treatments of foreign employees. The new labor pact comes at a time when Somalia is keen to expand its trade ties with Gulf States and to increase the money that diaspora communities send back home which is the livelihood of many families.
