Qatar World Cup Of Shame

Migrants from Bangladesh, India and Nepal working on the refurbishment of the showcase Khalifa Stadium and landscaping the surrounding gardens and sporting facilities known as the “Aspire Zone” are being exploited. Some are being subjected to forced labour. They can’t change jobs, they can’t leave the country and they often wait months to get paid. 

Meanwhile, FIFA (football’s global governing body), its sponsors and the construction companies involved are set to make massive financial gains from the tournament.
We have found several ways that some workers building the Khalifa Stadium and the Aspire Zone are being exploited…

1. Expensive recruitment fees
Many migrants seek work in Qatar to escape poverty and unemployment in countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh and India. But to get a job they have to pay high fees. The workers we spoke to paid amounts ranging from US$500 to US$4,300 to unscrupulous recruitment agents in their home country. Many are in debt, which makes them scared to leave their jobs when they get to Qatar.
Sakib, gardener from Bangladesh who took out a loan to pay US$4,000 to a recruitment agent

2. Appalling living conditions
Workers often live in cramped, dirty and unsafe accommodation. We saw men sleeping on bunk beds in rooms for eight or more people. But Qatari law and the Workers’ Welfare Standards allow for a maximum of four beds per room and prohibit bed sharing and the use of bunk beds.

3. Lies about salary
Recruitment agents also make false promises about the salary workers will receive, and the type of job on offer. One worker was promised a salary of US$300 a month in Nepal, but this turned out to be US$190 once he started work in Qatar. When workers tell Companies that they were promised higher salaries, they are simply ignored. As Mushfiqur, a gardener in the Aspire Zone, recalled, “My manager just said, ‘I don’t care what they said in Bangladesh. We are giving you this salary and nothing more. If you keep talking like this I’ll tell them to cancel your visa and send you back’.”

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