“If we complain, we’ll be fired” – a controversial report by the human rights organization Equidem lists numerous incidents of discrimination and exploitation on World Cup stadium construction sites in Qatar.
“This World Cup is built on modern day slavery.” This is the conclusion of Mustafa Qadri, the founder and managing director of Equidem, an international human and labor rights organization. Equidem published a detailed report on Thursday (11/10/2022) under the title“If we complain, we are fired” (“If we complain, we will be fired”).
“Major construction companies that built stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar have actively evaded labor inspections and exposed migrant workers from Africa and Asia to serious human rights abuses,” says the report. “This came despite labor market reforms by the Qatari government and actions by FIFA and its partners specifically aimed at protecting migrant workers from abuse.”
Death, abuse, late or denied payments
In the 106-page report, Equidem lists allegations for all eight World Cup stadium construction sites – with the longest list for the 80,000-seat stadium Lusail Iconic Stadiumwhere the World Cup final will take place on December 18th.
An excerpt of the allegations: deaths, physical and verbal abuse, late or refused payments. The workers often had to work in extreme heat and were exposed to other risks to their health and safety.
“Classic situation of forced labor”
“Some of these practices were used by the WM builders to create a captive and controllable workforce,” writes equidem. Founder Quadri specifies: “These workers were threatened: If you even complain about your situation, if you claim your wages, then we will report you to the authorities that you are runaways or stole something from us. This is a classic forced labor situation. ”
Fire alarm before FIFA visits
Anish Adhikari from Nepal also worked on the Lusail Stadium. In an interview provided and translated by Equidem, the 23-year-old recounts attempts by workers to personally address their grievances to FIFA delegates.
To prevent this, his employer set off a fire alarm before a FIFA group visited the stadium. “The workers then gathered in designated open spaces. After that, the HBK managers got the buses and drove us away.”
Royal family company allegedly involved in exploitation
HBK stands for Hamad Bin Khalid Contracting Co., a contracting company owned by the brother of the Emir of Qatar. Adhikari was employed by HBK. The Equidem report mentions a total of 16 construction companies in its report.
According to Equidem, it researched between September 2020 and October 2022 and interviewed 60 guest workers in detail. Their names have not been released to protect them from the risk of retaliation from their employers or the state. In total, Equidem spoke to 982 workers, the report says.
Qatar’s government is not responding
The Qatari government has not responded to several inquiries, nor have HBK and most other construction companies responded. The four companies that responded denied the allegations.
Qatar’s World Cup Organizing Committee referred to its workers’ welfare standards in its response to Equidem. Inferior contractors have been excluded as early as possible, and the committee has conducted 85,000 hours of site audits and inspections. The Department of Labor prevented 50 contractors from working.
WM-OK admits abuse
The organizing committee acknowledged that “our systems have at times been exploited by malicious contractors”. And it accused Equidem of not having contacted the organizing committee for the first time until October 21, 2022, after more than two years of research.
This shows the obvious motive: “The release of a highly critical document at a time when work on the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is nearing completion, when the allegations can no longer be adequately investigated and addressed.”
FIFA answers Equidem
FIFA replied to Equidem that none of the practices reported in the report, if justified, were acceptable to FIFA. The world association also criticized the fact that Equidem only contacted the association on October 21st.
FIFA writes: “While such issues are more difficult to review and rectify once a project is complete, we would encourage workers to raise any open questions they may have via the World Cup Organizing Committee’s Workers Welfare Hotline or FIFA’s Human Rights Grievance Mechanism.”