Qatar World Cup Construction Kills Thousands of Migrant Workers
19 October 2018 22:14 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Doha - The safety and well-being of workers working on the construction of the World Cup 2022 stadium in Qatar has been said to be quite alarming. The International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) claimed as many as 12 workers will die each week unless action is taken as Qatar is accelerating construction ahead of the 2022 World Cup. This may lead to costing the lives of at least 4,000 migrant workers before the actual event.
The group has been investigating the death of builders in Qatar for the past two years and said that at least half a million extra workers from countries including Nepal, India and Sri Lanka are expected to flood in to complete stadiums, hotels and infrastructure in time for the World Cup kickoff.
The annual death toll among those working on building sites could rise to 600 a year unless the Doha government makes urgent reforms, it said.
The confederation admitted the cause of death is unclear for many due to autopsies often not being performed, yet it believed the harsh and dangerous conditions at work and cramped living conditions could have resulted in this rising death toll.
This harsh warning was declared following a Guardian investigation revealing that 44 Nepalese workers died from June 4 to August 8 this year, about half from heart failure or workplace accidents.
Workers said they were forced to work in under extremely hot weather conditions and employers would retain salaries and passports for several months making it impossible for them to leave and being denied free drinking water. The investigation also discovered sickness is endemic among workers living in overcrowded and insanitary conditions and hunger has been reported. Thirty Nepalese construction workers took refuge their country’s embassy and left the country after claiming that they did not receive their salaries.
The Indian ambassador in Qatar said 82 Indian workers died in the first five months of this year and 1,460 complained to the embassy about labor conditions and consular problems. More than 700 Indian workers died in Qatar between 2010 and 2012.
The ITUC warned that without any changes to working practices, many more will die.
"Nothing of any substance is being done by the Qatar authorities on this issue," said Sharan Burrow, the general secretary of the Brussels-based organization. She previously met Qatar’s labor minister in Geneva and officials at the Qatar 2022 supreme committee, which is preparing the country for the World Cup.
GUARDIAN | TRIP B