“Since the World Cup was given to Qatar (one of the world’s richest nations) in 2010, over 1,400 construction workers from India and Nepal have died, and the total death rate of all migrant workers is likely far higher. The conditions of workers are slave-like, wages are often withheld for months on end and pay can be as low as 56p an hour.
Under Qatar’s Kafala system, workers’ passports are removed and they cannot leave the country without their employer’s permission. (Construction union) Ucatt general secretary Steve Murphy says “Once again Fifa have chosen to worry about the health of footballers and not the health of the workers building what will be a blood-stained World Cup.”
Sadly, it wouldn’t be the World Cup without reports of exploited and mistreated construction workers. Although Fifa recently launched a new human rights policy, they have a track record of choosing host nations with serious human rights issues, and then failing to use their considerable influence to ensure those countries don’t use Cup preparations to further exploit people. Since this video was made, Qatar has made changes to the Kafala system, but Amnesty International reports that conditions for the majority of workers have not changed.
