CHENNAI: Amnesty International's final pre-World Cup briefing makes for grim reading as the rights group revealed when it comes to migrant workers' conditions 'abuses remain rife across the country'.
The rights group, in a statement released on their website, said: "The Qatari authorities must re-commit to fully delivering on promised labour reforms now and beyond the World Cup, Amnesty International said today (Thursday). With just one month until kick-off, the human rights organisation again reiterated its call on FIFA and Qatar to establish a compensation fund for abused migrant workers.
"Qatar’s overhaul of its labour system since 2017 has led to some noticeable improvements for the country’s two million migrant workers – hundreds of thousands of whom have been engaged in projects essential to the World Cup. However, a lack of effective implementation and enforcement continues to undermine their impact on migrant workers. Thousands of workers across all projects are still facing issues such as delayed or unpaid wages, denial of rest days, unsafe working conditions, barriers to changing jobs, and limited access to justice, while the deaths of thousands of workers remain uninvestigated."
The body continued to express grave concerns about the plight of migrant workers 'on both World Cup and non-World Cup related projects'. "Migrant workers on both World Cup and non-World Cup related projects continue to face abuses on a significant scale in Qatar. Many workers, particularly in the domestic and security sectors, continue to be subjected to conditions that amount to forced labour, with domestic workers still typically working between 14 and 18 hours a day without a weekly day off, isolated in private homes."
Even if Qatar officials and the world football governing body, FIFA, have refuted the number of deaths arising from working on projects, Amnesty International maintained that a large number of deaths 'remain unexplained'. "The deaths of thousands of migrant workers over the past decade and beyond — on World Cup-related projects or otherwise — remain unexplained. At least hundreds of these fatalities were likely a consequence of working in the extreme heat. New heat legislation is an improvement but must be strengthened to bring it into line with international standards and adequately protect outdoor workers.
Despite clear evidence that heat stress poses a huge risk to health, the Qatari authorities have done little to investigate, certify or remedy migrant workers’ deaths, contrary to international best practice."
They also reported on the practice of paying 'extortionate recruitment fees' to secure jobs in Qatar. "The payment by prospective migrant workers of extortionate recruitment fees to secure jobs in Qatar remains rampant. Fees of between US$1,000 and US$3,000 leave many workers needing months or even years to repay the debt, trapping them in cycles of exploitation."
The report does say that Qatar has made some positive moves over labour rights but there's a lot yet to be done. "Although Qatar has made important strides on labour rights over the past five years, it’s abundantly clear that there is a great distance still to go. Thousands of workers remain stuck in the familiar cycle of exploitation and abuse thanks to legal loopholes and inadequate enforcement,” Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice, was quoted as saying in the release.
"With the World Cup looming, the job of protecting migrant workers from exploitation is only half done, while that of compensating those who have suffered abuses has barely started. It’s also imperative that Qatar commits to improving conditions in the long term. Progress must not grind to a halt once the World Cup roadshow leaves Doha.”