The ILO, an agency of the United Nations, has given the Gulf country a deadline of March 2017 to institute serious labour reforms.

In close to a century of history of the ILO, the procedure has been invoked only 13 times.

It follows claims of serious abuses for migrant workers in the country, particularly those helping to construct venues for the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

In December of last year, human rights group Amnesty International accused Qatar 2022 and football governing body FIFA of doing too little to address "rampant migrant labour abuse".

This came after the publication of high death toll figures among migrant workers, with it claimed as many as 1,200 may have died since 2010.

This forced the Government to commission a report from the international law firm DLA Piper.

Eighteen months after that report was published, however, many of its recommendations had yet to be implemented, while the group also said "nothing has been done to assess the number of deaths and injuries or the reasons for them".

Qatar was then forced to dismiss a claim by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) that 7,000 construction workers will die building the facilities for the tournament in six years’ time.

More than 900 workers from India, Nepal and Bangladesh died in Qatar in 2012 and 2013, with the ITUC claiming the "real fatality rate" was more than 1,000 per year.

The issue of working conditions and human rights for migrants in the country has been one of the main concerns in the build-up to the World Cup, with the way in which Qatar won the rights to the competition also the subject of an investigation following accusations of corruption in the bid process.

ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow has accused Qatar of disregarding the rights of construction workers and claimed that many “remain impoverished ad trapped in servitude”.

“Qatar embarked on a massive infrastructure programme to underpin its hosting of the World Cup in 2022, but it did so without regard to the consequences for the very people who are delivering the roads, bridges, utilities, sports facilities and all the rest needed to become a global sporting centre,” she said.

“The death and injury toll continues to rise, and migrant workers remain impoverished and trapped in servitude. 

“Qatar has the financial means to make the real reforms, ensure safe work and decent wages, and the international community is ready to help when the government finally shows that it is serious.

“That day has yet to come, but the new ruling from the ILO should hasten Qatar's realisation that the world will only be convinced by real change, not by public relations exercises.”