In the midst of the football euphoria for the World Cup in Qatar Denunciations of the deaths of thousands of migrant workers hired for the construction of the stadiums and the expansion of the city continue. And it is that the conditions for those who work in Qatar border on modern forms of slavery in many aspects: according to the British media Guardian, which was one of the first to investigate the issue, in 2021 more than 6,500 workers died in Qatar. During the coronavirus pandemic, the Asian country had 161,000 infections by Covid-19 and 257 deaths: more people have died from the World Cup than from the virus.
When these events began to be reported in 2021, not only the organizers of the World Cup questioned the accusations, but surprisingly, the International Trade Union Confederation also did so, despite the fact that between 2010 and 2014 it had denounced the abuses perpetrated against the workers. The general secretary of the entity, sharan burrowexplained to medium AFP that in 2016, after a complaint filed with the World Labor Organization (ILO)the Qatari government agreed to negotiate some laws for workers and came to establish measures such as the minimum wage. United Nationsamong other organizations, praised the changes.
“It is not all that we would have wanted to see in a mature industrial system, but they are a key foundation for the protection of workers’ rights,” said Burrow, who also stated that according to the ILO there were 50 deaths and a little more than 500 serious injuries in 2020. “It is these figures that are exact and not the total of 6,000 (between the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2021), which various media mention,” explained Burrow, who questioned the figures given by The Guardian and other media and assured that in ten years, a substantial change has been achieved in terms of working conditions in Qatar. In addition, he affirmed that if the advances of recent years had not occurred, the deaths would have been many more.
But despite the discussion about the number of deaths or how great the progress has been made, the truth is that highly precarious working conditions persist in Qatar. The main causes of worker deaths in Qatar linked to falls from height and accidents, since there are no safety measures commensurate with the risk of the tasks. And the list of irregularities includes extremely long hours under unbearable temperatures, mistreatment and abuse (of all kinds), discrimination, and low wages: $257 a month, which are sometimes withheld or even not paid by employers.
In addition, if any worker comes to complain, they are fired, and there is no right to strike or unionize, in addition to the fact that if they resign they can be imprisoned for the criminal offense of “escape”, or lose their work visas ( most of the workers are foreigners: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka are the countries that bring the largest number of immigrants to Qatar, and constitute the majority of its 2.8 million inhabitants).
And it is that working conditions in Qatar do not simply have to do with regular discussions about rights and obligations: until not long ago, the country was governed by “kafala”a hiring system that tied employees to their employers making it impossible for them to quit or even change jobs without the employer’s permission.
Yes ok kafala was officially dissolvedrights groups point out that the kafala continues to exist informally, a case similar to what happens with days off, since many workers can go from months to years without rest, despite the fact that the laws contemplate it as warranty.
In addition, workers often also have to pay a very high recruitment fee: that is, before arriving at work they already have a large debt on their backs.
The most critical voices continue to protest, alleging that the changes are insufficient. The organization Human Rights Watch He affirmed that these reforms “are not enough”, “they arrive too late” and that they have “big potholes”. They have also denounced that if a worker leaves his job for which he has not been paid for several months, there is a possibility that he will never receive that money.
There have also been – although very few – protests from the same field of football. The selected of NetherlandsFor example, it will auction the shirts it will wear during the Qatar 2022 World Cup to support migrant workers, according to information from the Dutch Football Association (KNVB) reported that after consulting with the players, it was decided that the entire proceeds from the online auction will be used to improve the situation of migrant workers. Another of the countries that made the issue visible was Denmark, but did not find much response from the other side: the FIFA He went so far as to prohibit his players from training with shirts bearing legends alluding to human rights.
The Government of Qatar, which has already recognized that it spends close to 500 million dollars a week to prepare for the World Cup, employed more than two million people from December 2010 to the present. Authorities say the country is a regional leader in labor reforms and progress will continue even after the World Cup.
They point to their critics for ignoring such reforms and for unfairly accuse the country. However, some data encourages mistrust: in August, the police detained at least 60 workers who went on strike over unpaid wages, and there have been cases of foreign reporters being detained for reporting on these issues.
Even a security guard, Malcolm Bidali, was detained last year for three months just for publishing information alluding to these events on his anonymous blog. Although it is true that social changes are slow and often take decades, the fact that talking about what is happening entails fines and days in jail suggests that there are transformations that are not only slow, but also walk in the desert.
by RN
Image gallery
