By Wilma Proctor
On March 20, 2014, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) released a report entitled “The Case against Qatar.” This 38-page report reveals damning evidence of abuse and high mortality rates of migrant workers in Qatar as the country prepares to host the FIFA 2022 World Cup. Furthermore, it labels Qatar as “A country without a conscience” (p. 4) and uses several graphic pictures, statistical data and many biographical accounts to support this claim.
ITUC argues that Qatar has the financial means to effect change yet despite some international prodding, the situation for migrant workers remains unchanged. The information contained in this document has escaped the attention of many Americans. Mainstream media outlets have not disseminated the compelling stories of human rights abuses and deaths, but ITUC is now shining a light on the plight of the migrant workers in Qatar and also urging FIFA to intervene.
According to the report the fundamental rights of thousands of migrant workers are constantly being eroded. “Poor migrant workers living in squalor are forced to work long hours in unbelievable heat six days a week. Kept in an apartheid situation, they are dying in unprecedented numbers. Women and children are imprisoned in detention camps and subjected to abuse including rape, while grown men are treated like animals and live like horses in a stable” (p. 4). The report further claims that these workers are subjected to the Kafala system—a system that is widely used in Qatar and other Arab states requiring all unskilled workers to have their employer responsible for their visa and legal status. As a result “Employers enjoy near total control over the movement of workers in their employ, including over where they reside in Qatar, whether they may change jobs or even to leave the country. Workers under such control are often afraid to report abuses or assert their rights for fear of retaliation” (p. 8).
The ITUC suggests that FIFA can be a catalyst for change in Qatar by making the abolishment of the Kafala system and respect for fundamental rights and freedom a condition for hosting the World Cup in 2022. In fact, on November 2013, FIFA called on economic leaders to join the football community in urging Qatar to introduce and uphold International core labor standards. However, Qatar’s response according to ITUC has been “Piecemeal, anarchic and focused on public relations” (p. 6).
The most alarming statistic documented by the ITUC is the death toll[1] of migrant workers in Qatar, which they claim could climb to 4000 before 2022. The causes[2] were many but all related to the living and working conditions. The report posits the numbers are conservative as they were obtained from two embassies—Nepal and India—whereas these two countries account for 50% of the migrant workers. The total of 409 deaths from these two embassies is still remarkably significant especially when that number is compared to reported fatalities at other World Cup venues. For example, two workers were killed at the venues of 2010 South Africa FIFA World Cup; seven at the venues in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup and five to date in Russia for the 2018 World Cup. Additionally, the report posits diplomatic sources have said Qatari government has been harassing them to remain quiet about the deaths so that the flow of migrant workers continues—the country needs 500,000 additional migrant workers in the years leading up to the World Cup.
The ITUC reports that Qatar in response to international pressure released two rights charters for workers, the Qatar Foundation Mandatory Standards (April 2013) and the Supreme Committee Workers’ Welfare Standards (February 2014). However, ITUC argues Qatar’s labor laws are outdated and therefore do not provide the legal support to these two documents, rendering them weak and ineffective. Consequently, workers remain under total control of the employers and subject to the same abuse. The report goes on to say that International law prohibits agencies charging recruitment fees, yet ruthless hiring agencies extract sums often in excess of US$1000 from laborers seeking work in Qatar. Often these workers are promised high wages upon arrival, only to be given new contracts for different work and paying much lower wages. Compounding the situation, the report argues these workers have no legal redress in Qatar because of the inefficiencies of the legal system and their inability to afford to exercise their legal rights.
As a member of the International Labor Law (ILO) Qatar has a responsibility to adhere to ILO standards, yet the report says, “The government of Qatar both fails to maintain a legal framework sufficient to protect the rights of migrant workers consistent with international law and to enforce the legal protections that currently do exist” (p. 28). It posits the workers leave their homes to make a better life for themselves and the families they left behind, but instead the small Arab nation invites them in and subjects them to enslavement. Further the report claims the Government of Qatar maintains the Kafala system; their laws exclude more than 90% of the work force from membership in a labor organization and they continue to allow the Interior Ministry’s Migrant Search and Deportation Unit to hunt down workers and detain them in prison indefinitely before deporting them.
The ITUC report states numerous meetings were held with Qatari officials and ITUC. Additionally, the General Secretary, Sharon Burrow wrote a letter to the Qatar Ministry of Labor citing cases of abuse inflicted on the workers. In the letter the General Secretary included issues related to the squalor in residential complexes where as many as 12 persons share one bedroom and 24 share bathroom and kitchen space; the confiscation of passports of the migrant workers rendering them prisoners; the reduction of wages and loss of annual leave pay in contravention of contractual arrangements; and the refusal of companies to provide health cards, forcing workers to pay for their own medical attention, which they often can ill afford. According to ITUC, the Ministry has done nothing to bring reform to its labor laws or refute the Secretary General’s claims of abuse among migrant workers and improper working conditions.
This damning report released by ITUC reveals the ongoing exploitation of migrant workers in Qatar. It claims the Qatari government is expecting to hire half a million more expatriate workers and spend an estimated $197 Billion (USD) on infrastructural and commercial projects leading up to the 2022 World Cup. The Government of Qatar has shown no inclination to expedite change despite having huge financial resources, despite the urgings by FIFA and despite the interventions by ITUC. However, the ITUC posits, FIFA has the catalytic power for change. The question is, will FIFA use that power?
Wilma Proctor is a PhD student at Florida State University.
[1] Deaths — 360 Nepalese workers died in 2012 and 2013; 239 Indian Nationals died in 2011, 237 died in 2012 and 218 in 2013. On average about 20 Indian migrants died per month in 2013. These are statistics from the Nepalese and Indian Embassies according to ITUC.
[2] The causes are labeled as work accidents, heart attacks and diseases from squalid living conditions.
