Rights body reveals labour abuse, violations at all Qatar stadiums hosting FIFA WC matches | Football News – Times of India
NEW DELHI: “While I worked, I used to wish I could watch Messi play. I imagined he would hear us and make everyone listen to us. And it would ease our pain.”
These are words of Anish Adhikari, a Nepalese construction worker and one of the many including Indians whose voices figure in a new research from human rights organisation ‘Equidem’ that through its findings levels serious allegations of abuse and discrimination towards migrant workers by employer companies and failure by the Qatari government to enforce promised reform as FIFA World Cup 2022 draws closer.
According to Equidem, investigations between November 2021 and August 2022 documented significant labour and human rights violations at all eight FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadiums. Equidem states that they have carried out in-depth, confidential, one-to-one interviews with 60 migrant workers employed across all eight stadiums and spoken to a total of 982 workers employed at these sites. With much concern the authors conclude that “despite labour reforms in Qatar, companies evaded inspections and abused workers”.
“Migrant workers from Africa and Asia responsible for the construction of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadiums suffered physical abuse and have been subject to serious labour exploitation and human rights violations at the hands of major construction firms, which routinely take steps to actively bypass labour inspections,” Equidem states in its report titled ‘If we complain, we are fired: Discrimination and Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers on FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Stadium Sites’.
Equidem puts on record that it wrote to the Qatar government, FIFA, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, and all the companies mentioned in the report prior to publication. It is stated in the report that while the Qatar government did not respond, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy said: “Your report presents a completely unbalanced picture of the significant progress versus the inevitable challenges that remain… While we are supportive of the sharing of information which can help improve the work that we undertake in Qatar, the SC will not stand for the publication of false and unsubstantiated allegations, or the publication of a one-sided narrative seemingly calculated to damage the organisation’s reputation prior to the FIFA World Cup 2022.”
FIFA in its detailed reply dated November 10 starts by re-affirming “FIFA’s steadfast commitment to the protection of internationally recognised human rights across all its activities” and goes on to highlight and uphold that amid the challenges, “it is important to recognise the strong systems implemented by the Supreme Committee for FIFA World Cup construction workers and the measures jointly taken by SC and FIFA for the workers.” Four companies have responded denying all the allegations.
Meanwhile, workers rights violations listed in the Equidem report range from nationality-based discrimination, unpaid wages, health and safety risks, to workplace violence among others.
The report also claims that in all stadiums, construction, maintenance, and security companies exposed their staff to extreme health risks during the successive waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, denying workers their fundamental rights.
Among the voices of workers one finds an Indian construction worker employed by a company on Lusail Stadium describing overcrowded accommodations that heightened risks of contracting Covid-19 with eight to ten people living in each room in the camp.
It is further recorded that one worker employed by a company on Al Bayt, Lusail, and Khalifa Stadiums described being forced to work against his will during pandemic related lockdown. He has claimed that after he became corona positive he was not given proper treatment.
“FIFA and the government of Qatar frequently point to reforms when faced with criticism towards the coming World Cup. Our research has found that beyond the smokescreens, workers are still subjected to racism, discrimination, and abuse without any real accountability,” said Equidem CEO Mustafa Qadri. Equidem wants Qatar to remedy funds to compensate migrant workers and their families affected in the process of delivery of the infrastructure for the World Cup.
These are words of Anish Adhikari, a Nepalese construction worker and one of the many including Indians whose voices figure in a new research from human rights organisation ‘Equidem’ that through its findings levels serious allegations of abuse and discrimination towards migrant workers by employer companies and failure by the Qatari government to enforce promised reform as FIFA World Cup 2022 draws closer.
According to Equidem, investigations between November 2021 and August 2022 documented significant labour and human rights violations at all eight FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadiums. Equidem states that they have carried out in-depth, confidential, one-to-one interviews with 60 migrant workers employed across all eight stadiums and spoken to a total of 982 workers employed at these sites. With much concern the authors conclude that “despite labour reforms in Qatar, companies evaded inspections and abused workers”.
“Migrant workers from Africa and Asia responsible for the construction of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadiums suffered physical abuse and have been subject to serious labour exploitation and human rights violations at the hands of major construction firms, which routinely take steps to actively bypass labour inspections,” Equidem states in its report titled ‘If we complain, we are fired: Discrimination and Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers on FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Stadium Sites’.
Equidem puts on record that it wrote to the Qatar government, FIFA, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, and all the companies mentioned in the report prior to publication. It is stated in the report that while the Qatar government did not respond, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy said: “Your report presents a completely unbalanced picture of the significant progress versus the inevitable challenges that remain… While we are supportive of the sharing of information which can help improve the work that we undertake in Qatar, the SC will not stand for the publication of false and unsubstantiated allegations, or the publication of a one-sided narrative seemingly calculated to damage the organisation’s reputation prior to the FIFA World Cup 2022.”
FIFA in its detailed reply dated November 10 starts by re-affirming “FIFA’s steadfast commitment to the protection of internationally recognised human rights across all its activities” and goes on to highlight and uphold that amid the challenges, “it is important to recognise the strong systems implemented by the Supreme Committee for FIFA World Cup construction workers and the measures jointly taken by SC and FIFA for the workers.” Four companies have responded denying all the allegations.
Meanwhile, workers rights violations listed in the Equidem report range from nationality-based discrimination, unpaid wages, health and safety risks, to workplace violence among others.
The report also claims that in all stadiums, construction, maintenance, and security companies exposed their staff to extreme health risks during the successive waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, denying workers their fundamental rights.
Among the voices of workers one finds an Indian construction worker employed by a company on Lusail Stadium describing overcrowded accommodations that heightened risks of contracting Covid-19 with eight to ten people living in each room in the camp.
It is further recorded that one worker employed by a company on Al Bayt, Lusail, and Khalifa Stadiums described being forced to work against his will during pandemic related lockdown. He has claimed that after he became corona positive he was not given proper treatment.
“FIFA and the government of Qatar frequently point to reforms when faced with criticism towards the coming World Cup. Our research has found that beyond the smokescreens, workers are still subjected to racism, discrimination, and abuse without any real accountability,” said Equidem CEO Mustafa Qadri. Equidem wants Qatar to remedy funds to compensate migrant workers and their families affected in the process of delivery of the infrastructure for the World Cup.
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