After all these years that Ive lived and worked in this country, I know now, if Itry tostand up to my employers, I will lose, said one Indian migrant worker who lived and worked in Qatar for 13 years without incident but whose most recent employer had him deported as a runaway because he complained to the Labor Ministry about his wages being delayed for months at a time. "I came to Qatar from Kenya last June to work on the construction sites here. Qatar also amended certain provisions of the labor law, setting out how migrant workers governed by the labor law can leave their jobs or change employers. Qatar has removed another key element of employer control, this time over workers ability to leave or change jobs, but authorities should now look to remove all remaining elements that tie migrant workers legal status to their employer, Page said. An August 2020 Human Rights Watch report found that employers in Qatarfrequently violated workers right to wagesand that the Wage Protection System, introduced in 2015 and designed to ensure that migrant workers are paid correctly and on time, does not protect workers from wage abuses. The club said the deal would end by mutual consent after five years and that the connections forged with fans in the Arab world through Qatar Airways would remain. Five of the workers from Ghana and Kenya said they incurred between US$85 and about US$250 each in travel and living costs in order to participate in a two-week training programme in their home countries, during which they were not paid. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Labour has welcomed the government's NHS workforce plan but says it comes too late to solve the crisis in the health service. "I worked on one of the World Cup sites in Doha at the end of March. Qatar also set up Labor Dispute Resolution Committees, designed to give workers a more efficient and faster way to pursue grievances against their employers; passed a law to establish aWorkers Support and Insurance Fund, partly designed to make sure workers are paid unclaimed wages when companies fail to pay; and introduced amendments that set stricter penalties for employers who fail to pay their workers wages. Some migrant workers, including domestic workers, are not governed by the labor law, but new Labor Ministry instructions make clear that new rules for terminating employment contracts and changing jobs are consistent for all workers. No-one will listen if you complain. Preventing further abuses of migrant workers engaged in World Cup-related projects and services. We are 6 months away from the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, but what is the situation for migrant workers on the ground? If the police arrest me, they will deport me. Qatar has the highest ratio of migrants to citizens in the world. My employer told me the moment I step outside I will be jailed. I am now staying in a place called Industrial - where most of the migrant workers live. I lost my job as a result [of going] so I came back with little money and no job.. A worker who does not leave the country within the prescribed 90 days can be sentenced to a maximum of 3 years in prison or a maximum fine of 50,000 QAR, or both. And after his dramatic resignation, Human Rights Watch is a 501(C)(3)nonprofit registered in the US under EIN: 13-2875808. Full responses from Teyseer and FIFA can be seen here. Me, personally, I am okay, but what about my kids? Human Rights Watch is a 501(C)(3)nonprofit registered in the US under EIN: 13-2875808, Deputy Director, Middle East and North Africa Division. Most workers interviewed expressed a fear of falling into irregular migration status, which could lead to arrest, detention, and deportation. They are treated very badly, and the conditions in which they live and work are terrible. Qatar All GCC countries operate similar summer working hours bans that are not linked to actual weather conditions and temperatures, and instead ban outdoor work during specific times of the day during the summer months. However, what's even worse is the on-site safety, or lack of it. Human Rights Watch spoke to over 80 migrant workers between January 2019 and February 2020 regarding their experiences working in Qatar. Find out more about our impact, who we are and how we are funded. Workers have already waited too long for justice.. At present, migrant workers in all six countries remain tied to their employers in terms of entry into the country of destination, and the implementation of reforms that have already been adopted remains uneven across these countries. We were told by English managers that if we didn't like it to leave, so we did. An employer can also cancel a workers residency permit at any time, which also limits the workers ability to remain in the country legally up to 90 days. You start at 04:00 and work all day. Wage protection measures have done little to protect workers from wage abuse. With migrant workers making up more than 90% of the countrys workforce, it was clear that the weight of delivering these projects would rest overwhelmingly on the shoulders of all those who travelled to Qatar in the hope of securing a better livelihood. CNN . They were stationed at various locations, including the Khalifa International Stadium, FIFA fan zones, the Corniche, and both in and outside the metro station in Souk Waqif in Doha. To a greater extent than previous tournaments, the Qatar World Cup has been mired in controversy. These are the words of migrant workers and their families explaining their reality. Due to the documentary "TRAPPED IN QATAR" FIFA has for the first time admitted a violation Responding to comments made by the Secretary General of the Qatar World Cup Supreme Committee, Hassan Al Thawadi, about migrant worker deaths during an Our company is killing us because they don't want to give us the little reward we deserve. Get updates on human rights issues from around the globe. Yet changing jobs is still a government-regulated process. 179K views 3 years ago. They come to Qatar because they lack stable job opportunities in their home countries, or because they believe they can earn more money working abroad. Qatar Share this via Twitter Many who helped build stadiums and infrastructure or worked to help deliver the tournament died and their families are yet to be adequately compensated, or compensated at all. Explore the big challenges, opportunities, debates and frameworks for business and human rights. I'm an orphan from a poor home. They were just turning a blind all to it all. This provision is still helpful for workers who face abuse, as it entitles them to terminate without notice and presumably, the worker would not need to pay compensation to their employer. Migrant workers Share this via LinkedIn How did Annies body end up on a Scottish beach? In addition to extensive reports of intrigue and corruption that generally accompany the selection of the host nation, the rights and treatment of migrant construction workers have also figured prominently. Share this via WhatsApp I would get more than that if I had stayed in Ghana. A recent Human Rights Watch report on wage abuse found that employers across Qatar frequently violate workers right to wages and that efforts to improve the situation have largely failed. The starting point is dismantling thekafalasystem and ending the prohibition on migrant workers joining trade unions. Migrant Workers and the Qatar World Cup | Human Rights Watch You feel trapped, like a prisoner. It was all very inadequate and uncomfortable. Some migrant workers are made to work extremely long hours and are denied rest days, under the threat of having their wages cut. At times the dust and sand flows in the air like snow. This section contains a selection of key portals curated by our global team. Share this via WhatsApp I got the work through an agency. MR: How have the Government of Qatar, FIFA, and others involved in the 2022 World Cup responded to the various criticisms about the treatment of migrant workers involved in the construction of World Cup facilities, and have the measures they have taken made a significant impact? In line with international standards, this means that FIFA must now ensure remedy for past labour abuses linked to the 2022 World Cup. Kirill KudryavtsevK/AFP via Getty Images. Change came on paper but on the ground, it has not changed It is still appalling. At the heart of the abuse was Qatars Kafala system of sponsorship-based employment which legally bound foreign workers to their employers, preventing them from changing jobs or even leaving the country without their employers permission. The Supreme Committeesubsequentlyissued a clarificationstating thatthe figure cited by AlThawadireferred to national statistics from 2014-2020covering all work-related fatalities nationwide in Qatar, covering all sectors and nationalities. Workers dependence on employers for their legal status in the country could undermine the recent reforms and hinder a migrant workers ability to transfer to another job.Absconding While some reforms have been introduced, key elements that facilitate abuse remain. In October 2019, I asked my employer to renew my QID, since it was expiring, he said I have to pay him QAR 5,000 if I want it renewed. In March 2023 FIFA announced that its human rights subcommittee would conduct an assessment of the human rights legacy of the tournament, including addressing the question of remedy for labour abuses. There are five to a room, which is a bit better, but it is not hygienic. For its research, Amnesty International spoke to 22 men from Nepal, Kenya and Ghana, who were among thousands of migrant workers employed on short term contracts by Teyseer. During an interview on Piers Morgans Uncensored programme, Hassan AlThawadisaid that an estimated 400-500 migrant workers had died as a result of work they were carrying out for theWorld Cup. In conjunction with the prohibition on worker strikes, and the ineffective implementation and enforcement of laws designed to protect migrant workers rights, these factors have contributed to abuse, exploitation, and even forced labor. Just energy transition principles for human rights in business and investment, Transition minerals and renewable energy in the Andes, Strengthening modern slavery statements: Good practice toolkit for Australian companies, Weekly Update 28 June | Food supply chain: Worker precarity highlighted by cases in US & UK, Operating in conflict-affected contexts: An introduction to good practice, Duty failure: Scant evidence of effective due diligence by companies operating in Russia, How import bans can help tackle forced labour in global supply chains, Respecting human rights: Why the CSDDD needs to go beyond social auditing, Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond (Dutch Football Association), Protection from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Establishing a programme to compensate migrant workers. [Unofficial English translation from google translates]. Events | Jobs | Media | Data Usage & Cookies | Contact Us. Qatar introduced some earlier changes as well. We were paid a lot more than the Indian workers - they were on about $50 a week, and we were on closer to $33 an hour - but we were still ripped off because we left early. However, it is already too late to erase the past suffering, and it is time for FIFA and Qatar to put things right. Penalties include fines, detention, deportation, and a ban on re-entry. The abuses endured by the security guards are part of a pattern of harms suffered by migrant workers in Qatar since FIFA chose it to host the World Cup in 2010. He said he works 12-hour days, rarely gets paid on time and some months not at all, and gets no days off, all of which violate Qatari law. Despite this, FIFA granted the multi-billion-dollar tournament to Qatar without imposing on it any conditions to ensure labour protections for migrant workers, despite the foreseeable risk to their human rights. Among migrant workers most common grievances are non-payment or delayed payment of wages, crowded and unsanitary living conditions, and excessive working hours. HZ:In October 2017, following several years of pressure by human rights organizations, media outlets, and international trade unions, Qatar promised to dismantle thekafalasystem, which gives employers excessive control over migrant workers legal status, and to implement other labor reforms as part of a three-year technical cooperation agreement with the International Labour Organization (ILO). The changes also apply to migrant workers who are excluded from labor law protections, such as domestic workers. The site was run totally by Indians, and they were treating their own people very, very badly. It was very bad because my family in India is very poor, they needed money. These abuses led many of Teyseers workers to protest on multiple occasions while they were in Qatar. Mouin Rabbani (MR):Who are the laborers involved in the construction of facilities for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar? Almost all of the workers staying in these camps, are poor and come from countries in Africa and Asia, like Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Days before their contracts expired in early January, hundreds of marshals staged a protest demanding their dues, including unpaid overtime and a bonus they said had been promised on completion of their duties. Human Rights Watch documented three cases over the past year in which employers filed false runaway cases, also known as absconding charges, against migrant workers in their employ after the workers submitted abuse complaints against them to the Labor Ministry, intentionally placing them at risk of arrest and deportation in retaliation. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait also have significantly large migrant worker populations and impose various forms of this system. I have been living in cabins in camps, separated by plywood. "Frank" sent this picture of the construction site he worked on near Doha, "Frank" working on a site near Doha, Qatar, There are an estimated 1.5 million migrant workers currently in Qatar, The Qatar Foundation stadium in Doha is one of the venues for the 2022 tournament, 'Frank' (not his real name), 30, from Kenya, Stephen Ellis, from Widnes, UK, worked on a World Cup site in Doha in March. Opinion pieces, interviews and blogs from across the business and human rights movement. "I am a truck driver working on the site of a new port project near Doha. BBC News. The men arrived in Qatar in mid-October 2022 and were contracted to work for three months. We once went on strike because we weren't paid for a month. WebMigrant Worker Controversy Behind the Scenes of Qatars World Cup Boundless dives into the migrant workforce controversy surrounding the World Cup Nov 30, 2022 The It should have been no secret to anyone that migrant workers in Qatar faced systemic labour abuses and exploitation and that their toil would be essential for the World Cup to take place there. Migrant workers remain completely dependent upon their employers to facilitate entry, residence, and employment in the country, with employers responsible for applying for and renewing workers residency and work permits. There is clear evidence of thousands of migrant worker deaths in the lead-up to the World Cup. 2023 BBC. By awarding the World Cup to Qatar without conditions on improving protections for workers rights, FIFA has contributed to human rights abuses on a significant scale, beyond just those employed to build and service official FIFA sites. The revelation comes following this investigative report by Benjamin Best for German broadcaster WDR. HZ:Until Qatar dismantles thekafalasystem in its entirety and allows migrant workers to join trade unions and advocate for their own rights, workers are likely to continue to suffer abuses and exploitation. Qatars existing mechanism for redress is not fit for purpose and has left thousands of workers deprived of compensation for the abuses they suffered. Qatar has rejected an Amnesty International report in which the rights group calls on the 2022 World Cup host to do more to investigate worker deaths, alleging that This is easily doable given the organisation will make over $6 billion in revenues from the tournament and has over $1.6 billion of reserves. Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022: Interview with former migrant worker, Malcolm Bidali, in Dutch paper as national team aims to qualify Malcolm Bidali, ex-guest Yet migrant workers remain vulnerable toabuseandexploitation. HZ:Qatar is not alone in its use of thekafalasystem to govern its migrant workforce. Help us continue to fight human rights abuses. News August 26, 2021 Qatar: Failure to investigate migrant worker deaths leaves families in despair Qatari authorities have failed to investigate the deaths of Qatar also introduced amendments to the labor law that set stricter penalties for employers who fail to pay their workers wages and increase the number of labor dispute resolution committees, designed to give workers an easier and quicker way to pursue grievances against their employers. They also cited the excessive control individual employers have over migrant workers legal status in the country, which allows employers to threaten and extort migrant workers to keep them working in abusive conditions and which deters workers from standing up to abusive employers for fear of retaliation. More than a third of the men interviewed, especially those employed as marshals, said they had to work 12 hours every day and worked for up to 38 consecutive days without a day off, or adequate pay to reflect this extra work, which breaches Qatari law. Marcus, from Ghana, 33, who works to support his siblings and paid nearly US$400 in recruitment costs, said: I had to take out a loan to pay for the expenses to travel to work in Qatar during the World Cup.