The amount of 440 million dollars is equal to the total prize money for the 32 countries participating in the World Cup in Qatar. Amnesty expects more money to be needed to fully compensate all victims. After consultation with trade unions, civil society organizations and the international labor organization ILO, it should become clear how much money is actually needed. According to the human rights organization, migrant workers must be compensated for unpaid wages and high recruitment costs. Many workers injured while working for the World Cup were said to have received insufficient financial assistance. Relatives of many deceased migrants are also still waiting for compensation.
“Given the history of human rights violations in the country, FIFA was aware of the risks to workers when the football federation awarded the tournament to Qatar. And otherwise she should have known,” said Amnesty Secretary-General Agnès Callamard. “Nevertheless, the evaluation of the Qatari bid made no mention of workers or human rights, and no conditions were imposed on workers’ protection. Since then, FIFA has done far too little to prevent or mitigate those risks.”
Amnesty calls on football associations, including the KNVB, to support the call for the compensation program. According to the human rights organization, FIFA will earn more than 5.6 billion euros from the World Cup in Qatar. Amnesty knows that Qatar has introduced laws in recent years to better protect migrant workers, but also emphasizes that these are insufficiently enforced. “For years, the suffering of those who made this World Cup possible has been swept under the rug. It is time FIFA and Qatar work together on a comprehensive workers-centred recovery program. The program must ensure that no damage goes unnoticed,” says Callamard.