As the 2022 FIFA World Cup seems to be inching closer to reality, it is a known fact that one construction worker a day dies as Qatar seeks to build these facilities. That’s the finding of The Guardian newspaper, which characterizes the conditions facing migrant workers in the country as “slave labor.”
As the 2022 FIFA World Cup seems to be inching closer to reality, it is a known fact that one construction worker a day dies as Qatar seeks to build these facilities. That’s the finding of The Guardian newspaper, which characterizes the conditions facing migrant workers in the country as “slave labor.”
Qatar, along with other Gulf nations, uses the so-called “kafala” system, under which each foreign worker hired to in the country needs a “sponsor,” usually their employer. Permission from the sponsor is needed to enter or leave country, or to change jobs. The company is also responsible for issuing IDs, without which workers are reduced to the status of foreign aliens with no legal protection.
The system in practice leaves the migrant workers at the mercy of their employers, who can refuse to pay wages or withhold documents and thus leave workers stranded, force them to work long hours in hazardous conditions and exploit and abuse them in other ways.
Qatar has the highest ratio of migrant workers and The Guardian reported that desperate people from Nepal, one of Asia’s poorest nations, make up 40 per cent of the laborers in Qatar. Between June 4 and August 8 at least 44 of them died, the newspaper said, citing documents obtained by the Nepalese Embassy in Doha. More than half the deaths were due to heart attacks, heart failure and workplace accidents, the newspaper said.
Other evidence cited by the newspaper points to horrific conditions for migrant workers. Some said they were forced to work long hours in temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius without access to drinking water. Many complained that they were not paid for months and were unable to pay off their debts to recruiting agents at home, yet alone send money back to their families.
One worker told journalists how his manager assaulted him for complaining about being forced to work on an empty stomach for an entire day. He was then kicked out of the labor camp and had to beg for food from other workers.
Some of the reports came from Lusail City development, a $45 billion city where Qatar plans to erect a 90,000-seater stadium that will host the World Cup final. FIFA pledged that it will address concerns over labor rights in Qatar after giving the kingdom the right to host the World Cup.
Qatar is to spend an estimated $100 billion on infrastructure projects to support the World Cup. As well as nine state-of-the-art stadiums, the country has committed to spend $20 billion on new roads, $4 billion for a causeway connecting Qatar to the island nation of Bahrain, $24 billion for a high-speed rail network, and 55,000 hotel rooms to accommodate visiting fans. In addition, Qatar has almost completed a new airport.
When asked for a response, the Qatari Labor Ministry said it had strict rules governing working conditions and the prompt payment of salaries.
Writer: Owen Hill
Source: Guardian.co.uk
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