THE ITUC branded Qatar liars yesterday, calling on governments to stand up to their “bully tactics” as the 2022 World Cup hosts attempts to con the International Labour Organisation (ILO) into thinking it has repealed the kafala system.

The blood-stained Gulf State has submitted a document to the ILO ahead of a discussion next week surrounding the system which has been likened to modern slavery, after the ITUC lodged a complaint.

Despite claims from Qatar that the kafala system was abolished last year, more than two million migrant workers are still subject to pervasive violations of basic human rights, including being forced to stay in Qatar against their will for up to five years by employers who can still legally take their workers’ passports, as well as workers having no minimum wage and wages still being set according to nationality rather than the job the worker does.