According to the BMET, Bangladesh sent over 2,44,000 workers to Qatar in 2015 and 2016 alone and a
significant number of them worked on World Cup projects.
In February 2021, the Guardian newspaper said that 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal,
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had died in Qatar since it has won the World Cup bid.
Qatar was declared to be the first Middle East country in 2010 to host the world’s biggest football
tournament.
Syed Saiful Haque, chair, WARBE Development Foundation, an NGO that works for the welfare of mi‐
grant workers, told New Age that the labour situation in Qatar was the worst at the beginning of the WC
work when a huge number of incidents, including deadly ones, were reported there.
‘Among the victims, Bangladeshi and Nepalese workers figured higher in number than others,’ he said.
Advertisements
REPORT THIS AD
After an intervention by the International Labour Organisation, the Qatari authority promised to ensure
a decent working environment.
‘Qatar should have kept its commitment,’ he said.
He also blamed the middlemen system in labour migration for the abuses.
To host the football World Cup tournament, Qatar undertook many mega-structures, including stadi‐
ums, an airport, roads and a new metro.
It hired thousands of workers from various countries, mostly from South Asia and East Africa, for the
projects.
The BHRRC said that despite tight control over the news media and relatively better facilities for the WC
project workers than for the general workforce by the Qatari authorities, it recorded 211 cases of abuse.
The migrant rights organisation reported that it had tracked 20 cases of abuse linked to seven out of
eight World Cup stadium projects and a further nine projects where specific World Cup work or sta‐
dium was not named.
The vast majority of abuses related to non-payment of wages, with workers in 20 of the 29 observed
cases citing delayed, withheld or unpaid wages and end-of-service benefits.
Health and safety violations were also frequent, with injuries, deaths and hazardous or dangerous work‐
ing conditions cited in eight cases.
Fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression and freedom of movement, were curtailed in
13 cases.
Most of the workers subjected to abuse in the cases were from South Asia and East Africa.
‘With the World Cup now only a few months away, FIFA has only a short window left to use its sway
with the Qatari authorities and businesses to ensure the tournament leaves a positive legacy for workers’
rights in the country. A priority should be ensuring the full and effective implementation of the labour