Amnesty International denounces this situation in a document published today. Months after the final of the soccer championship, FIFA and Qatar still do not offer “an effective and accessible regime” to obtain compensation. The possibility of appeal for those who returned to their countries of origin is excluded.
Doha () – Justice has been denied for hundreds of migrant workers, hired as security personnel for the World Cup in Qatar in November and December 2022, victims of abuse, mistreatment and violation of rights. A climate of impunity so as not to “tarnish” the aura of success that characterized the narrative around the first iridescent football event in the Arab world and the Middle East, despite the proclamations of FIFA (the body that regulates world football) and of Doha, who had promised clarity. The complaint is contained in a study published today by Amnesty International (AI), which through documents and interviews with the victims uncovers a veil not only over the suffering and deprivation suffered by migrants, but also over the will to cover up the search for truth and protection of rights.
Already in April of last year, many months before the initial match, the activist NGO had described in a 70-page report abuses that were mostly passed in silence, and which had resonated as a call to attention about the “systematic and structural” in private. “The organizers of the World Cup,” said AI’s head of Economic and Social Justice, Steve Cockburn, “were very aware of the problems, but they did not apply adequate measures to protect workers and prevent abuses” in the venues that hosted the competition, from stadiums to other facilities. Six months have passed since the final, but FIFA and Qatar have yet to offer an “effective and accessible regime” for workers to obtain “justice and compensation,” he continued.
The investigation shows that the employees and security guards who worked at the World Cup facilities, hired by the Qatari company Teyseer Security Services, suffered multiple labor abuses. These include recruitment fees and commissions, job-related expenses, and misleading statements about terms of employment. In addition, at the end of their temporary contracts, the workers had no choice but to return to their countries of origin, effectively denying them the possibility of resorting to the courts to assert their rights.
In recent months, Amnesty International surveyed 22 workers from Nepal, Kenya and Ghana, among the thousands employed by Teyseer. Most arrived in Qatar in mid-October 2022 on three-month contracts, and all of them had recruitment-related expenses: at least 16 said they paid more than US$200, including four who paid more than US$600, i.e. , about a third of their total income. For some, the expenses included up to $300 in recruitment agency fees, as well as pre-trip medical assessments to Qatar, Covid-19 tests, and criminal background checks.
Marcus (name is fictitious), a 33-year-old Ghanaian, works to support his siblings and paid nearly $400 in expenses: “I had to take out a loan to pay for the trip. I’m still paying for it,” he explained, because “what won was not enough”. Richard, a 24-year-old compatriot, worked in the training camp of one of the teams that attended the competition: “In the end I lost out,” he denounced, “because I paid almost $700 before leaving. I only received about $1,500.” , which is an income of only 780 dollars. “I would have earned more if I had stayed in Ghana,” he concluded. “I lost my job because of the trip, so I came back with little money and unemployed.”
More than a third of those surveyed stated that they worked 12 hour days, up to 38 consecutive days, without rest or adequate pay for overtime, in violation of local Qatari and international law. The tasks in many cases required standing for hours without a minimum of rest, managing large crowds without adequate training or support. Kiran, a 26-year-old Nepalese who worked as a subway attendant at Souk Waqif, said: “It was a difficult job because there was only one subway station in the area and it was always too crowded. I had to stand for ten or twelve hours a day. day… leaning my back against the barricades,” he recalled. “Sometimes we were afraid because there were too many people and they were pushing in the middle of the crowd.”
Despite the reports and complaints, which show that Teyseer and FIFA are aware of the problem and the repeated abuses, none of the organizations or governments involved appear to have moved or taken effective action to address the issue so far. On the contrary, the rights of workers and their legitimate demands are still pending, and there are no prospects of justice being done and rights recognized in the short term. Among other things because, although Doha has established means to claim, workers have to be in Qatar to access the labor courts and the compensation system, while remote complaints and demands are excluded.
