Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service at Qatar opened its doors in August 2005 in a country known for both its wealth—it has highest GDP per capita in the world—and its human rights violations. Migrant workers make up a large percentage of the population, working on its massive construction projects, serving as maids, and driving taxis around Doha, the capital. As reported in the Voice’s cover story this week, Georgetown has commendably taken steps to ensure humane working conditions for workers at SFS-Q. The other American universities in Qatar, including Carnegie Mellon University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Cornell University, need to follow Georgetown’s example and stand up for workers’ rights.
As part of its enormous economic boom, Qatar has embarked on projects that will wean the country from its reliance on natural gas, while ensuring it remains a leading nation in the Arab world. Education City, the section of Doha in which SFS-Q is situated, epitomizes this new development, created specifically to attract world-renowned American universities. The government-funded Qatar Foundation, which runs Education City, supposedly monitors worker conditions, but many of their employees live in squalid conditions nevertheless: 15 people crammed in an apartment, no privacy—even in the shower—and putrid smog. Qatari law limits workers to ten hours a day on the job, but reports of migrants working 96 hours a week are not uncommon.
Last week, Georgetown broke ground on its main building in Education City. For the first time in Qatari history, SFS-Q will be employing an independent consulting firm to monitor its workers’ safety at the worksite. The University should be applauded for ensuring that workers’ rights are not confined to its D.C. campus, but more should be done. Georgetown also needs to certify that its workers are provided with humane living conditions and that their work hours are within the legal limits.
Several groups on SFS-Q’s campus also deserve credit for taking the initiative to help migrant workers gain skills and to improve their quality of life. The student-run Hope Club serves meals to Education City workers and the Hoya English Learning Program teaches English to workers.
Other schools at Education City should follow in Georgetown’s footsteps to ensure that their workers are treated with dignity and respect. Inhumane conditions for employees are not allowed at American universities; they should not be tolerated abroad, either. Georgetown has taken the lead on this. It’s time for other American universities in Qatar to follow.
