Qatar Airways to face OECD scrutiny over strip searches

Qatar Airways is facing a complaint to the OECD from seven Australian women who were hauled off flights and invasively examined.

Seven Australian women who were hauled off Qatar Airways’ flights at gunpoint and subjected to humiliating gynaecological examinations have complained to a global authority on business standards in an effort to bring the ­Qataris to account.

The shocking events of October 2, 2020, occurred after airport workers discovered a newborn baby abandoned in a rubbish bin at Hamad International Airport in Doha.

In an effort to find the mother, authorities ordered female passengers off 10 flights preparing for departure, and subjected the women to invasive physical searches at gunpoint.

Some of the Australian women assaulted are now part of a class action being prepared by Marque Lawyers, seeking compensation and an apology from Qatar Airways, the airport and Qatar’s government.

Marque Lawyers’ partner Damian Sturzaker said the lawsuit would be filed in the NSW Supreme Court in coming weeks.

In an effort to apply further pressure to Qatar Airways and the government, Mr Sturzaker also lodged a complaint with the Australian National Contact Point for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on behalf of the passengers. The AusNCP handles complaints about alleged non-observance of OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises and seeks to contribute to a resolution between parties.

Mr Sturzaker said they hoped the OECD would help bring the Qataris to the table.

“Even before they engaged our firm, this group of women wrote to the Qatari parties and received no response,” he said.

“There was no apology, no reach out, nothing. Just a tweet from the (Qatar) Prime Minister who said ‘this is terrible’ and ‘we’ll investigate it thoroughly and publish the results of our investigation’.

“The women wrote a very thoughtful letter that sought engagement and asked for dialogue and they didn’t even get the courtesy of a reply.”

Further efforts to communicate with the airline and the government were also ignored, he said. “I’ve been practising law for 30 years and I’m staggered at the lack of response and the lack of respect for human rights not just on the day concerned but the ongoing effects the women have suffered and the lack of compassion the Qatari parties have displayed,” Mr Sturzaker said.

One of the women was forced to leave her six and eight-year-old sons alone on the aircraft when she was ordered off at gunpoint, and another was told to leave her five-month-old baby, but she refused.

“They did not know why they were being hauled off the plane and they were not told about the baby until the examination was under way,” Mr Sturzaker said. “My client with the five-month-old tried to explain there was no way she could have given birth to another baby so soon but the examination still went ahead.”

The complaint to the OECD was principally aimed at getting an assurance such actions would never be repeated, as well as engaging in a constructive dialogue with the women concerned.

Mr Sturzaker said he hoped the women would be compensated for their ongoing trauma but an Australian court could not direct Qatari authorities to make procedural changes at Hamad International Airport.

“We will never be able to force that change but the OECD can make a statement about whether or not they believe breaches of OECD convention have occurred,” he said.

Qatar Airways did not respond to questions about the complaint to the OECD.

Qatari authorities eventually identified the newborn baby’s mother who had returned to her home country. Efforts were under way to extradite her to Qatar, where she could face a 15-year jail sentence.

A report on the incident was provided to the Australian government by Qatar in 2021 but was not made public.