Dutch Human Rights Ambassador praises Mowasalat's worker-friendly measures

The visit of H.E. Dr. Bahia Tahzib – Lie, The Human Rights Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Mowasalat's Headquarters in Qatar.

H.E. Dr. Bahia Tahzib – Lie, The Human Rights Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands visited the Mowasalat (Karwa) Headquarters recently as part of her tour of Qatar. She met with the company’s C-Suite and the newly established Driver Committee to discuss matters of cooperation on workers’ welfare, labor rights, human rights, responsible business conduct, and sustainability.

The company employs almost 10,000 staff from 57 countries and seeks to get another 6,500 onboard for the upcoming sports mega-events. Mowasalat (Karwa) is a pioneer in the country for employee participation and was the first company in Qatar to set up an elected Joint Committee, where employees can weigh in on company decisions with their ideas and feedback. 

On this, Dr. Bahia Tahzib-Lie, H.E. The Human Rights Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands mentioned: “I was proud to see how Mowasalat (Karwa) takes its responsibility seriously to live up to human rights and responsible business conduct standards and really works to make a difference on worker welfare. It is great that this company leads by example, and I hope this will continue to inspire other companies to implement change that benefits people and society at large. Respecting human rights and observing responsible business conduct is not only the right thing to do, it is good for business and the country too. The Dutch Embassy in Doha continues to support a wide range of stakeholders on these developments, including Mowasalat (Karwa).”

H.E. Dr. Bahia Tahzib-Lie also showed great interest in Mowasalat (Karwa)’s ecological projects like the latest E-Bus fleet and infrastructure, future technologies like an autonomous bus, and the novel ‘Smart Fleet System’ – the digital backbone and control organ of all bus operations at the company.

On this occasion, Mr. Fahad Al Qahtani, CEO of Mowasalat (Karwa) stated:

“During the past years, Mowasalat (Karwa) has developed into a ‘go to’ constant for integrated transport solutions in Qatar.  With a wide variety of business fields and thousands of employees, we have a substantial social footprint, and with our growing tasks, we constantly seek simple, reliable, and sometimes unusual solutions. It is understood that if we want to succeed, we need to provide a work environment based on genuine care for our drivers. We are grateful that we’ve been guided all along the way by the Ministry of Labour, the ILO, and the ITF, and we very much value the patronage of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as one of the key drivers for this endeavor.”

The day was concluded with a note on continuing the close cooperation, and the outlook on further branching out the idea of employee participation in Qatar. A project, in which Mowasalat (Karwa) will surely have a leading role.