Dutch companies have earned millions on construction projects around the World Cup in Qatar. That Trouw concludes after research. According to the newspaper, the proceeds of the projects vary from 1.5 million euros to sometimes tens of millions per project.
For example, Dutch companies helped build a metro system for football fans visiting Qatar next winter. Companies also helped to build an airport and a completely new city with the largest World Cup stadium. Projects that earned the companies millions of euros.
The World Cup in Qatar is very controversial. The approximately two million migrant workers who built the World Cup facilities often did so in appalling living and working conditions, resulting in an estimated several thousand deaths. It is not known whether there have also been deaths at Dutch projects.
Earlier this year, Amnesty International called on FIFA to compensate the migrant workers because of the poor working conditions. If it is up to the human rights organization, the hundreds of thousands of workers will receive $440 million. An amount that is exactly equal to the prize money that FIFA makes available for the countries that participate in the World Cup.
Dutch companies informed Trouw that they went to Qatar, among other things, in the belief that they would contribute to change. Not all companies did research into working conditions in Qatar before their arrival.