Qatar World Cup organisers admit to exploitation of migrant workers

Callum Boyle

It follows after Amnesty International’s recent investigation

Organisers for the Qatar World Cup have admitted that workers were exploited when they were under contract to help the nation prepare for the tournament.

Their acknowledgement comes following a recent investigation from Amnesty International who revealed that security guards were forced to work in conditions described as “forced labour”.

They also claimed that workers exceeded the maximum working hours of 60 per week, with some going months, and even years, without having a day off.

Organisers said three companies had been identified

Qatar themselves have provided no details of the abuse workers were subjected to during the preparations for the World Cup and the Arab Cup.

However as per, AP, organisers admitted that they did treat migrant workers unfairly and that they were subjected to harsh conditions.

“Three companies were found to be non-compliant across a number of areas,” they said.

“These violations were completely unacceptable and led to a range of measures being enforced, including placing contractors on a watch-list or black-list to avoid them working on future projects – including the FIFA World Cup – before reporting said contractors to the Ministry of Labour for further investigation and punitive action.”

Watch the moment the FA chief executive claimed that Qatar's migrant workers want the World Cup to go ahead pic.twitter.com/Sn8MLPJ7fZ

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Amnesty International are calling on FIFA to do more

Workers are still being subjected to awful working conditions despite organisers claiming that measures had been introduced since 2014 – four years after they were awarded the tournament – to ensure the health and safety of workers.

“Many of the security guards we spoke to knew their employers were breaking the law but felt powerless to challenge them,” Stephen Cockburn of Amnesty International revealed.

“Physically and emotionally exhausted, workers kept reporting for duty under threat of financial penalties — or worse, contract termination or deportation.

“Despite the progress Qatar has made in recent years, our research suggests that abuses in the private security sector — which will be increasingly in demand during the World Cup — remain systematic and structural.”

Cockburn also added that FIFA should be doing more to tackle the abhorrent conditions and treatment of workers.

He said: “FIFA must focus on doing more to prevent abuses in the inherently perilous private security sector, or see the tournament further marred by abuse.

“More broadly, FIFA must also use its leverage to pressure Qatar to better implement its reforms and enforce its laws.”

"People need to know these issues, the real stories of the people who have gone there."

What it costs to build a World Cup. The toll taken on a migrant worker who spent four years in Qatar.

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— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) April 1, 2022