The suffering of foreign workers in Qatar, the forgotten builders of the 2022 World Cup
Photo dated November 2014, men chat by the sea overlooking the rooftops of Doha.
© AP
Text by: Nicolas Falez Follow
6 mins
In one year, the 2022 FIFA World Cup will take place in Qatar, a small emirate in the Gulf, very rich in natural gas.
For the first time this competition will take place in the Middle East and it will be played in November and December to escape the very high temperatures of summer.
For years, preparations for the tournament have drawn attention to the situation of foreign workers in Qatar, those who built the stadiums for the World Cup and - more generally - those who constitute 80% of the population of this small country.
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It is a small supermarket lost in the industrial zone of Doha, far from the sanitized luxury of the malls frequented by Qatari and wealthy expatriates. Across the street, behind a perimeter wall, you can see rows of sand-colored buildings: a dormitory housing migrant workers.
In front of the entrance to the shopping mall, you have to be patient to engage in conversation with the men who enter or leave, but over the course of the conversations fragments of lives of exile and toil emerge. “
Yes, there are a lot of Nepalese in Qatar,
” says a 42-year-old driver who has worked here for three years. He tells us that he had to pay an agency in his country to find a job in the Gulf, even before receiving a first salary. “
I earn 2,500 rials (around 600 euros), it's better than in Nepal,
” he tells us. With two children in the country, he sends most of his salary - 2,000 rials - each month to his family.
It has been two years since he saw his family again.
The Covid-19 has further spaced the rare returns of these migrants: many are reluctant to be absent for fear of not being able to return or of incurring quarantine costs.
This Nepalese worker seems satisfied with his accommodation conditions, in a room he shares with three of his compatriots.
And he confides his dream: to return home, to buy a minivan to work as a taxi on the roads of Nepal.
Like him, there are more than 2 million migrant workers in Qatar (out of a total population of about 2.5 million inhabitants), mainly from Nepal, India, Bangladesh and the Philippines but also from the Middle East. East and Africa.
Deaths related to working conditions
Qatar has been preparing for its FIFA World Cup for 10 years, which has drawn attention to the plight of these migrant workers. A few months ago, the debate was revived by
the British newspaper
The Guardian
which says it has recorded
6,500 deaths on construction sites in Qatar
for a decade. Qatari officials whom RFI met in Doha dispute this figure and the method used. In this sensitive issue, a new element appeared a few days ago: a
report from the International Labor Organization
(a United Nations agency which recently had an office in Qatar) which recorded 50 deaths linked to occupational accidents among foreign workers in Qatar in 2020. But this report does not include a certain number of deaths which should be qualified as work-related accidents, recognizes Max Tunon, who represents the ILO in Doha. "
The report calls for more systematic investigations by the Ministry of Health, but also by the Ministry of Labor, when the deaths could be linked to professional activity
," said Max Tunon.
Another recent report devoted to Qatar: that of
Amnesty International
which underlines that the authorities of the emirate do not carry out a clear census of the number of deaths related to working conditions.
"
We followed the cases of six people who died in Qatar because of their working conditions, each time the death certificate spoke of a natural cause or of a heart problem
," explains Lola Schulmann of Amnesty International who points to a problem of justification of those deaths which are not listed as accidents at work.
With consequences for families who have to go into debt only to have the body repatriated.
Reforms
Faced with criticism of occupational accidents and the working conditions of foreign workers, Qatari leaders are highlighting the reforms adopted in recent years. "
Claims that we neglect, ignore or do not investigate when people die for such and such a reason are inaccurate,
" said Hassan Al Thawadi, secretary general of the event's organizing committee. “
When we set out for the World Cup we always said it was a catalyst for positive change and working conditions were our top priority.
», Assures Hassan Al Thawadi, who recalls, for example, the obligation to stop work at certain times of the day when temperatures are unbearable on construction sites. Qatari officials also recall that a minimum wage has been introduced (1,000 riyals - or around 240 euros - to which are added 300 riyals for food and accommodation generally paid for by the employer).
In addition, the country has abolished the
kefala
, a system of professional sponsorship widely used in the region, which submits a foreign employee to his employer. "
We have succeeded in reforming many laws,
" said former diplomat Youssef Al Khater, who served as his country's ambassador to the United Kingdom. “
The
kefala
system
has been abolished, the exit permit has been abolished and everything related to the confiscation of workers' passports. Now they have the right to move from one company to another. In Qatar, we have succeeded in this, but look at the region… among our neighbors, you will see that these laws are still in force ”
, underlines Youssef Al Khater, recently elected to the Shura, the advisory council of the emirate.
Qatar believes that it is ahead of its neighbors, which is not enough to extinguish criticism. In particular those formulated by Amnesty International in its last verification report (“Reality Check”) of the announcements of Qatar. “
A year ago, we had hope, the votes had been voted,
admits Lola Schulmann of Amnesty International
, but since then we see that companies put pressure on the government because these reforms do not allow them to have a flexible workforce
".
Amnesty cites cases of hindered workers when the abolition of Kefala theoretically leaves them free to change employers.
Amnesty International is also addressing Fifa and the French Football Federation, asking them to take a stand for the rights of foreign workers in Qatar.
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To read also: World Cup 2022: one year from the kickoff, Qatar is still under fire from critics
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