‘Completely unacceptable’: Qatar World Cup organizers admit workers were exploited
Qatar World Cup organizers have admitted that staff had been exploited whereas contracted for FIFA’s preparation tournaments within the Gulf State.
The acknowledgement of failings got here after an investigation by Amnesty Worldwide which mentioned safety guards had been pressured to work in situations it known as “pressured labour” by exceeding the 60-hour most work week and never having a time without work for months and even years.
Qatar supplied no particulars of the abuses that concerned subcontractors engaged on the Membership World Cup and Arab Cup in 2021.
“Three corporations had been discovered to be non-compliant throughout a variety of areas,” Qatar World Cup organizers mentioned in an announcement. “These violations had been fully unacceptable and led to a spread of measures being enforced, together with inserting contractors on a watch-list or black-list to keep away from them engaged on future initiatives — together with the FIFA World Cup — earlier than reporting mentioned contractors to the Ministry of Labor for additional investigation and punitive motion.”
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The exploitation of staff continues in Qatar regardless of World Cup organizers saying it has launched measures since 2014 — 4 years after FIFA awarded it internet hosting rights — to guard well being and security.
“Regardless of the progress Qatar has made lately, our analysis means that abuses within the non-public safety sector — which will likely be more and more in demand throughout the World Cup — stay systematic and structural.”
The draw for the World Cup came about in Doha final week forward of the Nov. 21-Dec. 18 event.
“FIFA should give attention to doing extra to stop abuses within the inherently perilous non-public safety sector, or see the event additional marred by abuse,” Cockburn mentioned. “Extra broadly, FIFA should additionally use its leverage to stress Qatar to higher implement its reforms and implement its legal guidelines.”
