Written By: Hanna Azizi
Every 4 years, billions of people worldwide tune into the FIFA World Cup, the greatest celebration of the world’s “beautiful game”: soccer. The opportunity was presented to Qatar to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, yet the event has attracted attention for all the wrong reasons: a lack of liveable conditions for the millions of migrant workers living in Qatar to make this event possible. This neglect and continued mistreatment has resulted in thousands of deaths and created a surging ongoing public health crisis.
Introduction to Migrant Working in Qatar
On paper the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup was historic-- a celebration of soccer for the world and the Middle Eastern region, as they have never had the opportunity to host an event of this magnitude. To make this possible, over two million migrant workers from across Asia and Africa have been brought in to build stadiums, roads, and other infrastructure required to make the 2022 World Cup successful.
In the Middle East, including Qatar, the Kafala System is in practice. This is a sponsorship system where employers almost have complete control over migrant workers employment and their immigration status (Berg). While this system helped the local economy flourish, it has led to an imbalance of power between workers and their employers; workers’ are poorly protected by the law. The lack of control over their own status has allowed for the perpetuation of poor working conditions and living conditions which have led to drastic negative, and in some cases, fatal consequences for the workers.
Working Conditions & the Ensuring Public Health Crisis
As of February 2021, over 6,500 migrant worker deaths have been recorded since the World Cup construction began in Qatar (Pattison and McIntyre). Unfortunately, the total estimated death toll is reported to be “significantly higher” as this death count does not factor in the thousands of migrant workers sent from various nations such as the Philippines and Kenya (Pattison and McIntyre).
Though painting an incomplete picture, this data alone evidences the immense danger current working and living conditions have on the migrant working population as a whole; considering there are over two millions migrant workers in Qatar, this has become a public health crisis. One of the most significant factors endangering their health is the extreme heat conditions that workers are subjected to, without sufficient water or breaks (Devi). Many of the projects have also been completed at immense heights. At these projects, workers are not given adequate safety equipment-- this has led to over 1000 workers falling to their death (Devi). Despite the immense negative impact these conditions have, the Kafala system has enabled the continuation of these conditions as the migrant workers have little say with the conditions their employers provide them.
Additionally, conditions are worsened by the immense challenges migrant workers face in accessing health care. The Kafala system allows for employers to grant their employees with health cards so that they may access care. However, many have abused the system by failing to provide this paperwork. Thus, employees must pay up to a month’s salary just for treatment or medicine, which discourages many migrant workers from seeking out health care (Ewers et al). Those who do have paperwork still face challenges; there are no health care centers on working sites or near their established living conditions. Therefore, often a day must be taken off work to travel into the city, where the journey can cost them at least four days of wages.
Further, many migrant workers also experience great challenges with mental health. Many take on these jobs in order to give their family a better life, yet they work in extremely unsafe conditions for many hours every day with insufficient breaks to receive poor wages. A study conducted found an increased level of depressive symptoms in migrant workers in comparison to non-migrant workers (Khaled and Gray). Unfortunately, despite many surveyed populations of migrant workers who have demonstrated mental health problems, there are no resources available for them to seek treatment.
International Response
The continued exploitation of these workers and their health at the expense of the economic growth of Qatar has not gone unnoticed. In 2017, Qatar and the UN International Labor Organization (ILO) created an agreement to reform the sponsorship system, access to justice, worker voice, health and safety, and pay and recruitment (Amnesty International). Despite this and other legislation, reform has evidenced little progress; migrant workers are continuing to suffer at the hands of their employer. Since 2010, the year that Qatar was offered the opportunity to host the World Cup, the mistreatment of workers has only increased due to COVID-19 and resulting wage cuts. In order to improve conditions for workers, the Qatari government must follow through on the legislation passed, companies must listen to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as well as honor and protect the human rights of workers. By improving the living and working conditions migrant workers are subjected to, the health of the migrant workforce in Qatar can only improve. Sponsors, fans, and those with voices must continue to bring attention to these issues until substantial improvement is observed.
References
Amnesty International. (2020). Migrant Workers Rights With 2 Years To The Qatar 2022 World Cup. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2019/02/reality-check-migrant-workers-rights-with-two-years-to-qatar-2022-world-cup/
Berg, N. (2021, February 24). At least 6,500 workers have died building Qatar’s World Cup. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/90607440/at-least-6500-workers-have-died-from-building-qatars-world-cup
Devi, S. (2014). Concerns over mistreatment of migrant workers in Qatar. The Lancet, 383(9930), 1709. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(14)60818-7
Ewers, M. C., Diop, A., Le, K. T., & Bader, L. (2020). Migrant Worker Well-Being and Its Determinants: The Case of Qatar. Social Indicators Research, 152(1), 137–163. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02427-3
Khaled, S. M., & Gray, R. (2019). Depression in migrant workers and nationals of Qatar: An exploratory cross-cultural study. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 65(5), 354–367. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764019850589
Qatar: Little Progress on Protecting Migrant Workers. (2020, October 28). Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/08/24/qatar-little-progress-protecting-migrant-workers
Qatar still failing workers - Amnesty. (2019, September 19). BBC Sport. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49747688
Pattisson, P., & McIntyre, N. (2021, March 18). Revealed: 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since World Cup awarded. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/23/revealed-migrant-worker-deaths-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022
Comments