Amnesty Int'l claimed that workers in Qatar renovating a 2022 World Cup stadium "have suffered human rights abuses two years after the tournament's organizers drafted worker welfare standards in the wake of criticism," according to Tom Finn of REUTERS. Amnesty said in a report released Thursday that dozens of construction workers from Nepal and India "were charged recruitment fees by agents in their home countries," housed in "squalid" accommodation and "barred from leaving the country by employers in Qatar who confiscated their passports." Qatar Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy Secretary General Hassan al-Thawadi said that Amnesty had "identified challenges in worker conditions and Doha was working to reduce these kinds of abuses," which he said occur on construction sites "all over the world." Amnesty said it interviewed 132 workers involved in the rebuilding of the Khalifa stadium, a vast sporting complex in Doha that is part of a $200B construction boom in the "gas-rich Gulf state" that will host a World Cup quarterfinal. The alleged ill treatment of workers on a high-profile project "raises questions about recent reforms in the country that has said it will improve foreign workforce conditions." Al-Thawadi said that Amnesty had highlighted "malpractices" faced by some of the 5,100 construction workers building stadiums, a figure "set to increase seven-fold to 36,000 in the next two years." He said, "We've always recognized that we don't have a magic wand that could fix the matter from the very beginning." He called the World Cup a "catalyst for change" and added, "We're resolving gaps day by day." Amnesty's Gulf researcher Mustafa Qadri said Qatar has improved "very visible" aspects of labor conditions like safety and worker accommodation but many "hidden abuses," including "threats to workers and failure to honor pay contracts, persist." The Kefala system, variants of which are used across the Gulf, "binds workers to their employers by requiring them to get permission to change jobs or leave the country" (REUTERS, 3/31).
CALL FOR ACTION: In London, Martyn Ziegler reported Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty called on FIFA President Gianni Infantino and the governing body’s leading sponsors "to take action." Shetty: "Despite five years of promises, FIFA has failed almost completely to stop the World Cup being built on human rights abuses. If FIFA's new leadership is serious about turning a page, it cannot allow its showcase global event to take place in stadiums built on the abuse of migrant workers." Qatar's World Cup organizing committee said in a statement, "The conditions reported were not representative of the whole work force. We wholly reject any notion that Qatar is unfit to host the World Cup." FIFA said that it "disagreed with the findings, and pointed out it has advertised for a new position" of human rights manager. FIFA: "The structures and processes set up so far [in Qatar] provide a good basis to monitor labor rights of migrant workers" (LONDON TIMES, 3/31).
CONTROVERSY CONTINUES: In London, Simeon Kerr reported Amnesty and other campaigners have long criticized working conditions for the "mainly south Asian construction workers" who account for most of the 90% of expatriates within the workforce of the gas-rich state. Qatar’s bid "has also been engulfed in bribery accusations since it was awarded the tournament" by FIFA at the start of the decade. The allegations "have been denied by authorities but some countries have called for the decision to award the World Cup to be revoked." In addition to corruption claims and criticism of labor practices, the government "has been forced to cut some of its World Cup infrastructure spending following the sharp fall in the oil price" over the past 18 months which has put pressure on its budget (FINANCIAL TIMES, 3/31).
