More than 24,000 workers have suffered human rights abuses in Qatar, according to a campaign group that has calculated the toll taken on those who have built the World Cup‘s infrastructure.
The findings of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre are published on Friday just as England and the 28 other teams to have already qualified for the tournament learn their fate in a glitzy World Cup draw taking place in Doha, the Qatari capital.
Even though Qatar’s highest labour standards have been applied to migrant workers helping to build seven new stadiums as well as constructing a new metro system, hotels, roads and an airport, the campaign group claims it has recorded 211 abuse cases affecting 24,400 workers.
An official at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre today calls for Fifa to use its remaining influence over Qatar’s authorities to ensure labour reforms are implemented and that workers who have suffered abuses can gain recompense.
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The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has been tracking human rights abuses in Qatar since 2016. The organisation has traced abuse cases to construction of seven of the eight tournament stadiums.
It is alleged the vast majority of abuse cases relate to non-payment of salaries, including unpaid wages and failure to honour benefits. But there have been frequent health and safety breaches, the new report claims, that have led to death, injuries and dangerous working conditions. Migrants’ freedom of expression and freedom of movement have also been curtailed, it says, adding that the majority of abuse cases involved South Asian and East African workers.
Around 100 workers building the Al Bayt Stadium, set to host the tournament’s opening game, were not paid for up seven months. At the Lusail Stadium it is alleged that workers had wages and benefits withheld and that some had to pay illegal recruitment fees to secure a job.
Employees working on the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium claimed they were made to work in hazardous conditions and that they will be sent home before the tournament starts. It is alleged workers at the Education City Stadium became ill or died due to heat stress. Further deaths, unpaid wages and passport confiscations were reported during construction of the Khalifa International Stadium and the Al Janoub Stadium.
And it is claimed by a construction worker at the Al Thumama Stadium that workers could be made to work for 20 hours a day with minimal breaks, food and water, and that some workers lived in cramped conditions.
“The World Cup draw is a time of great excitement across the globe, but these cases demonstrate that even workers who have been subject to the highest labour standards in Qatar and have worked on the country’s most prestigious projects are still vulnerable to serious labour abuses such as fatal health and safety failures and denial of fundamental freedoms,” said Isobel Archer, Gulf Programme Manager, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. “Cases of longstanding issues such as non-payment are still coming to light even in the last month.
“With the World Cup now only a few months away Fifa has only a short window left to use its sway with the Qatari authorities and businesses to ensure the tournament leaves a positive legacy for workers’ rights in the country. A priority should be ensuring the full and effective implementation of the labour reforms and access to remedy for workers who have suffered abuses.”
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“This programme includes joint inspections with the international trade union for construction workers BWI and has over the past years been expanded to include service companies involved in the World Cup, such as in the hospitality, security or transportation sectors.
“The enhanced protection measures for World Cup workers have also contributed to wider legislative reforms leading to the dismantlement of the Kafala system, the introduction of a non-discriminatory minimum wage, or enhanced protections from heat stress-related health hazards.
“Fifa, the supreme committee and other entities involved in the World Cup have always been transparent about their efforts to identify and address instances where companies may not have been complying with the heightened Fifa World Cup standards. The numbers mentioned by the BHRRC appear to represent cumulative numbers of historical cases in that respect that the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy and Fifa have been addressing over the years.”
Abuse of migrant workers has been reported for several years and overshadowed the World Cup build-up. In 2016, Amnesty International claimed Qatar was using forced labour to construct stadiums, alleging that wages were being withheld, passports confiscated and that workers were living in squalid conditions.
The Guardian reported that 6,500 migrant workers up to 2021 had died since Qatar won the World Cup bid. Qatar officials disputed the figure, insisting many of those deaths were foreign workers not involved with construction and that there were 37 deaths among stadium construction workers, 34 of which were not related to work.
Human rights abuses at Qatar 2022 stadiums
Lusail Stadium
Workers accused their employer Meinhardt Bim Studio of failing to pay them for three months and withholding end of service benefits.
In December 2021, the Nepali Times reported that a worker who had helped on the construction of the stadium had paid $1,000 in illegal recruitment fees to secure the job.
Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium
In November 2018, construction workers alleged they did not receive enough money to adequately support their families in their home countries.
Al Janoub Stadium
In 2014 workers were being underpaid and their passports were being held by their employer.
At least two workers have allegedly died in the building of this stadium, including Tej Narayan Tharu, a Nepali national who fell from a walkway.
Khalifa International Stadium
In 2017, British construction worker Zac Cox died on the job due to safety failures.
A 2016 Amnesty report reported multiple cases of serious abuse, including non-payment of wages, withholding of passports, contract substitution and the charging of recruitment fees.
Education City Stadium
In 2018, workers were seen on the hottest day of the year apparently working during a designated rest period in contravention of the summer working hours directive designed to safeguard workers’ health. In 2019, workers at the stadium went on strike saying they had not been paid for four months.
Al Bayt Stadium
In June 2019, Fifa confirmed that 23 workers of a stadium subcontractor had not been paid their wages.
In June 2020, an Amnesty investigation revealed around 100 workers on the stadium had not been paid for up to seven months.
Al Thumama Stadium
In November 2021, a Nepali migrant worker reported working 12-hour shifts in extremely hot conditions and sometimes working up to 20 hours with only a few breaks with insufficient drinking water and food. He also said he was not paid overtime and slept in a cramped room with six other people.
Qatar chief’s angry reaction to Southgate comments
England manager Gareth Southgate led discussions about controversies surrounding the upcoming World Cup with his players and staff at the start of the latest camp when they met at St George’s Park. Detailed information will be circulated to the players, although they stopped short of taking a decisive stance.
Southgate conceded it was a “great shame” that some female fans and supporters from the LGBT+ community would fear travelling to the World Cup, taking place from November to December. But he later questioned the point of boycotting the World Cup and what that action would achieve.
But Qatar 2022 chief executive Nasser Al Khater responded angrily to his comments, asking how many times Southgate had been to Qatar and insisting the England manager’s opinions were ill-informed.
Southgate has only been to Qatar once, for the Fifa Club World Cup final between Chelsea, who several of his players play for, and Palmeiras, although English Football Association delegates have visited several times and reported back.
“My question would be who from the England squad has been to Qatar?” Al Khater said. “My question to the coach is has he been to Qatar? Is he basing his opinions and his public statements on what he has read? Because it is kind of an issue when you just base an opinion on which you are very vocal about on things which you have read.
“Somebody with a lot of influence such as Southgate, somebody with a big audience that listens to what he has said has got to pick his words carefully.
“I think before making statements like that when it comes to the workers, he needs to come here, speak to workers, understand what workers get out of being here.
“There are isolated cases, these are the cases which make it to the media. However, I can assure him that if he comes here, speaks to the majority of workers, they will tell you how they have put their children through University, they will tell you how they built their houses for them and their families. These are the stories that nobody hears.
“So I look forward to welcoming him here, I look forward to meeting him at the draw. He can listen to my opinion. He doesn’t have to believe it, but at least he needs to go that far to understand different opinions, to understand different cultures.
“I am extending him my deepest respect. I respect him as a coach, as a human being. I don’t have any issues with people’s opinions. Obviously when someone has a different opinion, you will give them your side of the story. We can agree to disagree, but that’s fine.”
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