Dutch companies are said to have earned millions on various construction projects around the World Cup in Qatar. That writes newspaper Fidelity Wednesday based on our own research. According to the newspaper, Dutch engineering firms, architects and construction companies have carried out projects to design or build the infrastructure. The choice of the tournament in the Gulf state has been fiercely criticized: in Qatar migrant workers work in appalling conditions, which has left thousands of them dead.
Also read: Will a World Cup boycott help workers in Qatar?
Human rights organizations have been talking about ‘modern slavery’ for some time, but Dutch companies nevertheless wanted to do business on the peninsula. That is how the newspaper mentions steel company Frijns Staal, which is said to have earned millions from the development of an airport. The company could not be reached for a comment on Wednesday morning NRC. Other companies doing business in Qatar, according to the daily, included BAM, Royal HaskoningDHV, Boskalis and Arcadis.
It is not the first time that Dutch organizations have been linked to the criticized football tournament, which will be played in the oil state from November 21 to December 18. So wrote de Volkskrant last December that pension funds from our country invest heavily in Qatar. The pension funds would invest in government bonds of the Qatari government and the state oil company, among other things. As a result, the construction of the World Cup stadiums would have been paid directly from the Netherlands.
Death toll
It is not known exactly how many migrant workers have died in the construction of the World Cup stadiums and the infrastructure around them. The Guardian suggested based on own research that at least 6,500 migrant workers have died, but that the actual number is probably even higher.
The workers worked in the oil state to build seven new football stadiums, a new airport, road network, public transport facilities and hotels. They had to work long days in unsafe conditions in considerable heat. Human rights organizations have long criticized the Qatari regime’s treatment of foreign workers, of whom an estimated 2 million live in Qatar.