It is always a great honor to host the World Cup, but the nation of Qatar appears to be taking the desire to host an acceptable tournament too far. According to reports, the workforce charged with preparing Qatar for the 2022 World Cup has been turned into slaves.
The Guardian has reportedly received documents from the Nepalese embassy in Qatar that show 44 immigrant workers died in a two-month stretch during the summer. The majority of these deaths occurred due to heart attacks, heart failures and workplace accidents.
For the full Guardian report as well as a video describing the plight of Qatar's workers click here.
Read the full response to the report here
To make matters worse, these immigrant workers, who reportedly make up 90 percent of Qatar's workforce, are being denied basic needs on the job, and are being forced to remain. A Nepalese ambassador named Maya Kumari Sharma
called Qatar "an open jail" for her Nepalese countrymen.
An investigation has turned up reports that passports of workers were confiscated, ensuring the immigrants cannot leave Qatar due to the conditions. Additionally, these workers' pay has been withheld for months in some cases, and during the day many laborers have been denied drinking water.
Aidan McQuaide, who directs Anti-Slavery International, made a strong statement regarding the poor treatment of these immigrants.
"The evidence uncovered by The Guardian is clear proof of the use of systematic forced labor in Qatar. In fact, these working conditions and the astonishing number of deaths of vulnerable workers go beyond forced labor to the slavery of old where human beings were treated as objects. There is no longer a risk that the World Cup might be built on forced labor. It is already happening."
These laborers are not even building anything directly related to the World Cup; rather they're constructing cities for the necessary stadiums and developments to house teams, players and fans.
The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee has responded to The Guardian's report strongly in a statement.
"Like everyone viewing the video and images, and reading the accompanying texts, we are appalled by the findings presented in The Guardian's report. There is no excuse for any worker in Qatar, or anywhere else, to be treated in this manner. The health, safety, wellbeing and dignity of every worker that contributes to staging the 2022 FIFA World Cup is of the utmost importance to our committee and we are committed to ensuring that the event serves as a catalyst toward creating sustainable improvements to the lives of all workers in Qatar."
The lengthy statement concludes with:
"We firmly believe that all workers engaged on our projects, and those of the other infrastructure developers in Qatar, have a right to be treated in a manner that ensures at all times their wellbeing, safety, security, and dignity. This is our top priority as we begin to deliver on the promises made in our bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar."
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