This article was one of three short-listed for the Amnesty Young Human Rights Reporter award in 2014:
The Janus-faced nature of rapid progress is painfully obvious when examining the plight of migrant workers in Qatar. This tiny Gulf state, which boasts the largest GDP per capita in the world, has been embroiled in a dispute since being chosen to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Concerns have been raised that the intense summer temperatures will be detrimental to footballers’ performances; this, however, is to overlook a far graver issue.
The Janus-faced nature of rapid progress is painfully obvious when examining the plight of migrant workers in Qatar. This tiny Gulf state, which boasts the largest GDP per capita in the world, has been embroiled in a dispute since being chosen to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Concerns have been raised that the intense summer temperatures will be detrimental to footballers’ performances; this, however, is to overlook a far graver issue.
Qatar has the highest ratio of immigrants to domestic
citizens in the world, with foreigners comprising over 90% of the workforce.
Its voracious appetite for infrastructural growth has been sustained not only
by its vast natural gas reserves, but also by this influx of migrant workers,
most of whom originate from Southern Asia. Lured by financial incentives and
the emirate’s prosperity, many go to extreme measures to travel there. They arrive
in severe debt after paying exorbitant fees with high interest rates to recruitment
‘agents’ in exchange for a visa. Instead of being treated with justice and
respect, these disillusioned workers face oppression and exploitation
tantamount to slavery.
There is compelling evidence to suggest that the World Cup
project is dependent on forced labour. Under the kafala system, a policy redolent
of medieval feudalism, workers are legally bound to the companies who sponsor
their visas. Their passports are routinely confiscated, and they are forbidden
to change jobs without the permission of their employer. Exit visas are issued
only with the sponsor’s consent, leading the Nepalese ambassador to Qatar to
condemn the nation as being comparable to an ‘open jail.’
A Nepalese worker died almost daily in the summer of 2013. Many
were young, fit men who were felled by sudden heart attacks, for they were
forced to labour for long hours in extreme heat with no access to free drinking
water. The incidence of fatal injuries sustained during construction work is
eight times higher than in the UK, and the average worker is paid only $8 for
15 hours of work. Mired in debt with little opportunity to leave, their
predicament is enveloped in a miasma of despair and futility. Many are
segregated in remote camps and live in squalid surroundings. There is no
minimum wage in Qatar, and salaries are sometimes withheld completely, whilst independent
trade unions are illegal: these conditions provide fecund soil for corruption. It
has even been alleged that some employees who protested were threatened with
jail.
Woefully little is being done to tackle the crisis. A report
by Human Rights Watch stated that ‘Workers face obstacles to reporting
complaints or seeking redress, and the abuses often go undetected by government
authorities.’ This exploitation is an inconvenient truth that many prefer to
ignore, for the underbelly of development is not always an attractive sight.
The World Cup should be increasing opportunities rather than limiting them, and
the global community needs to act before it is too late. Qatar’s stadiums must
be built with pride, not with blood.
