2023-11-16 12:01:00
A worker in front of a mural about football in Doha // AFP via Getty Images
The Qatar’s continued inaction to remedy human rights abuses suffered by migrant workers and provide them with adequate protection from labor exploitation is tarnishing the legacy of the FIFA Men’s World Cup as it marks one year since it was held.Amnesty International said today.
The new Amnesty International report A Legacy in Jeopardy shows that Progress in improving labor rights has largely stalled since the tournament ended, and the hundreds of thousands of workers who suffered abuses in connection with the tournament remain without access to justice and redress.. The limited progress that had been made in some areas has been overshadowed by the lack of measures to address the wide range of abuses that continue.
“Qatar’s failure to adequately reinforce and enforce the labor reforms it passed before the World Cup seriously jeopardizes any potential legacy for workers. “The government must urgently renew its commitment to protect them, and FIFA and Qatar must agree reparation plans for all those affected,” said Steve Cockburn, Economic and Social Justice Director at Amnesty International.
“Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers lost their money – through practices such as charging illegal recruitment fees or non-payment of wages – their health and even their lives as FIFA and Qatar attempted to divert and deny their responsibility. In this year since the end of the tournament, too little has been done to correct all these ills, but the workers who made the 2022 World Cup possible must not be forgotten.”
“Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers lost their money – through practices such as charging illegal recruitment fees or non-payment of wages – their health and even their lives as FIFA and Qatar attempted to divert and deny their responsibility”
The reforms promoted by the Qatari government – approved late and poorly implemented – and FIFA’s adoption of a human rights policy in 2017 failed to prevent widespread abuse before and during the tournament; human rights abuses that continue to be committed.
Steve Cockburn said: “Human rights abuses related to the 2022 World Cup should serve as a reminder to sporting bodies that they must treat human rights as a priority in their decision-making on the allocation of events.”
Insufficient reform and implementation
In 2017, Qatar signed an agreement with the International Labor Organization that resulted in the adoption over the following years of substantial changes to labor law, including reform of the sponsorship system (kafala), a new minimum wage and the adoption of legislation on health and safety. However, at the start of the World Cup, the enforcement and enforcement measures needed to prevent further widespread abuses remained insufficient.
Since the tournament ended, the process has stalled even more. Interviewees told the research team that the majority of migrant workers can now freely leave the country, and noted progress in the enforcement of laws related to work involving heat exposure, especially the prohibition of construction work in the country. outdoors in the hottest hours of the day. But beyond this, they painted a bleak picture in which the process has lost momentum and exploitation continues.
Working people are supposed to be able to freely change jobs to escape abuse or obtain better conditions, but although they no longer legally need a “no objection certificate” from their employers, in practice they are still required to have some form of permission. Some of those interviewed told Amnesty International that even government officials continued to suggest that they obtain such permission to facilitate changing jobs, and that it was often requested in job advertisements. The Government’s own data shows that, although more than 150,000 people changed jobs in the first eight months of the year, during that period the government also denied a third of change requests submitted by workers.
“Changing jobs is still a problem. Workers cannot change without the no-objection certificate; It is impossible to change jobs if you don’t have one. It’s like a silent requirement. Most new employers still require the no-objection certificate, and the old companies do not want to give it,” a diplomat from a country of origin of workers told the research team.
Furthermore, employers continue to de facto control the presence of the working population in the country, which jeopardizes their legal status and prevents them from changing employers. For example, when workers file complaints or request a change of employment, abusive employers continue to revoke their residence permits, or file false complaints for “abandonment” of the job, which can lead to their arrest and deportation. A representative of a foreign embassy in Doha told Amnesty International that “employers still have workers tied hand and foot.”
Wage theft remains the most common form of exploitation faced by migrant workers in Qatar, including food delivery workers, a growing sector, but the system for detecting non-payments and delays in the payment of salaries and benefits is not yet fit for purpose. Wages also remain low, and there has been no increase in the minimum wage since it was established in 2021, even though the cost of living has increased.
Despite the creation of specialized labor committees in Qatar, of which there are now five, migrant workers seeking to access redress through the judicial system continue to face enormous obstacles. It remains a long and difficult process for them, who must remain in the country to defend their cases. As a result, in most cases they have no choice but to accept compensation far less than what they are entitled to, and abusive employers are rarely held accountable.
Migrant domestic staff, mostly women, remain particularly vulnerable to serious abuse, and in the past year the government has done little to better protect these staff or bring those responsible for abuse to justice. .
Repair and restitution
While the labor abuses suffered by migrant workers since FIFA named Qatar the host of the World Cup cannot be reversed, they can and must be remedied.
FIFA generated record revenue of US$7.5 billion from the Qatar World Cup, but there remains no clarity around the tournament’s Legacy Fund that the entity promised.In March, FIFA announced that it would carry out a review of the measures it should take to ensure reparation in line with its human rights policies.. It is expected to be published soon. In order to fulfill their respective human rights obligations and responsibilities, Qatar and FIFA must act urgently to ensure that victims’ rights to recourse and compensation are not denied or further delayed.
As Amnesty International has previously documented, hundreds of migrant guards and security officers deployed to tournament-related venues on short-term contracts suffered labor exploitation during the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Among other things, workers were charged illegal fees When hiring, they were lied to about the work they were going to do and were forced to work excessive hours without weekly rest days. Almost a year later they have still not received any repairs.
Marcus, a 33-year-old Ghanaian who works to support his brothers and sisters and paid almost $400 in recruitment, told Amnesty International:
“I had to take out a loan to pay travel expenses to work in Qatar during the World Cup. I’m still paying for it; “What I earned was not enough.”
The report highlights the 10-point reform plan developed by Amnesty International in November 2022 that calls on Qatar to improve and strengthen the implementation of its labor laws to protect workers from further acts of exploitation and ensure access to justice and reparation for all victims.
Steve Cockburn said: “Qatar must not delude itself into thinking that just because the tournament is over, its actions will not come under scrutiny, and must renew its efforts to improve the rights of working people. On the other hand, in order to prevent a repetition of the abuses associated with the Qatar World Cup, FIFA must learn from its mistakes, be prepared to take its human rights responsibilities seriously and directly remedy the abuses caused by its inaction. caused or contributed to causing.”
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