Amnesty: Migrant World Cup laborers in Qatar exploited

Amnesty International says migrant laborers in Qatar working to prepare the country for the 2022 FIFA World Cup are being exploited, face appalling living conditions and forced labor.

“The manager said ‘these men are causing trouble, they are lazy. Watch them closely. If they do not show up to work or try to escape, report them to the police,” said Kamal, a Nepalese laborer employed as metal worker on the refurbishment of the major Khalifa Stadium, according to an Amnesty report published on Thursday.

The report interviewed 132 contractors working on refurbishing the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha and a further 102 landscapers who work in the Aspire Zone sports complex that surrounds it. All said they had reported human rights abuses of one kind or another.

Bangladeshi, Indian and Nepalese workers are employed for the refurbishment of the Khalifa Stadium and landscaping the surrounding gardens and sporting facilities known as the “Aspire Zone.” They are being exploited, Amnesty said.

FIFA, the global governing body of football, its sponsors and the construction companies involved will make massive financial gains from the sport event at the cost of “threatened” workforce, according to Amnesty, which explains that in case workers complain about working conditions or even seek help, they are highly likely to face intimidation and threat by their employers.

“I went to the company office, telling the manager I wanted to go home [back to my country] because always my pay is late. The manager screamed at me saying ‘keep working or you will never leave!,’” said Mohammad, another worker who maintains green spaces in the Aspire Zone.

“The company has my passport. If my sponsorship status changes they will send me back and I have a lot of debt to pay…, I want my passport back… [and] the camp is no good, there are eight of us in one room – it is too many. But I cannot complain [because] they will end my job.”

Migrant workers make up more than 90 percent of the workforce in Qatar, which amounts to 1.7 million people.

Deaths of migrant laborers

The Guardian said in a February 2014 report that official figures confirmed by the Indian embassy in Doha revealed that 237 Indians working in Qatar died in 2012 and 241 in 2013.

In January the same year, The Guardian revealed that 185 Nepalese workers had also died in Qatar in 2013, taking the total from that Asian country to over 380 in two years.

The Qatar 2022 event will be the first World Cup not to be held in June or July. The tournament is scheduled for late November.

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