Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports of the ill-treatment of North Korean labourers working in building World Cup facilities in Qatar; and whether they have raised those reports with the government of Qatar.

We are aware of reports of the ill-treatment of North Korean labourers working in Qatar. We take the issue of the treatment of migrant workers very seriously. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), recently raised human rights issues with the Qatari government during his visit to Doha on 15 October, and the issue of migrant workers was raised with the Emir of Qatar during his visit to the UK on 28-30 October. We support Qatar’s intention to reform the current labour law and we continue to encourage the Qatari government to address human rights concerns and stand ready to support those efforts where we can.