Qatar has approved a law limiting domestic staff to a maximum of 10 hours’ work a day, the first such protection for thousands of household maids, nannies and cooks in the emirate. The domestic employment law also orders employers to pay staff wages at the end of each month and entitles workers to at least one day off a week and annual leave of three weeks, the Qatar News Agency reported.

When their contracts end, workers will also receive end-of-service benefits equating to a minimum of three weeks’ wages for each year of service. The law prohibits staff being recruited from abroad who are older than 60 and younger than 18. Hundreds of thousands of foreign workers have flocked to the gas-rich Gulf emirate in recent years, including almost 100,000 women working as house staff.

Other domestic workers covered by the new law include cleaners, gardeners and drivers. The legislation was issued on Tuesday by Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, QNA reported. Following a Guardian investigation, Qatar has come under severe international pressure to improve its record on the treatment of construction workers in the run-up to the 2022 World Cup. Domestic staff have not previously been protected by legislation, however.

Critics have long campaigned for legal protection for domestic staff, with some claiming that they are forced to work in slave-like conditions. In 2014, a Guardian investigation found that many women who travel to the emirate for employment were forced to work for 100 hours a week. They also had their passports taken away and their wages withheld, and many had experienced physical and sexual abuse.

Hundreds of Filipino domestic workers had sought sanctuary at their embassy in Doha, complaining of harsh working conditions. The issue of ill-treatment of domestic staff stretches across the region. In 2015, Indonesia said it would stop sending domestic staff to 21 Middle Eastern countries in protest at the treatment of maids in those countries. Human Rights Watch backed the introduction of the law.

“Tens of thousands of domestic workers in Qatar now have their labour rights protected in law, including a limit to their working day and a weekly day of rest,” said Rothna Begum, women’s rights researcher at HRW. She added, however, that the new legislation, passed at a time when Qatar’s laws remain under scrutiny from the International Labour Organisation, must be rigorously imposed by the authorities.

“Qatar should ensure there are strong enforcement mechanisms, which are key to making these rights a reality,” said Begum. The ILO has given Qatar until November to improve its human rights record or face sanctions.