Special Report: Is FIFA 2022 Venue Built On Slavery?

The incredible structures around the globe are a mark of human genius and showcase the human ability to beautify the world around them. However, the great marvels come at a great cost. It can be recalled from time immemorial that the man-made creations were always tainted with slavery and the stories of lives sacrificed to build the mammoth structures. 

Although, slavery was abolished in 19th century and should have ideally been part of the history, there are incidents around the globe that bring to light slavery, albeit in a new garb. According to the Global Slavery Index, there are an estimated 29,400 people in modern slavery in Qatar - this is equivalent to 1.3563 per cent of the entire population.
There are reports that 90 per cent of workers have had their passports held by their employers, 56 per cent do not have a government health card essential to access public hospitals, 21 per cent sometimes, rarely or never' receive their salary on time and 20 per cent receive a different salary than had been promised.

In 2010, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) announced that its showpiece event Football Word Cup for 2022 will be hosted by Qatar. The joyous nation swung into action putting together the infrastructure to host the biggest sporting event of the world. This in turn led to a boom in the demand for cheap labour resulting in a mass influx of migrants to Qatar in order to complete extensive infrastructure on football stadiums. Since then there have been various reports in the international media on the pathetic working conditions of these labourers that does not meet international standards.

Qatar's construction frenzy ahead of the 2022 World Cup is on course to cost the lives of at least 4,000 migrant workers before a ball is kicked, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has claimed. Adding to misery is the Qatar Kafala sponsorship. This system increases vulnerability to exploitation and conditions of modern slavery. For example, workers cannot leave the country or seek alternative employment without their sponsor’s written consent, and any attempt to leave an exploitative situation may result in the worker being criminalised for 'absconding'.

Despite the adverse reports, Qatar remains the top destination for men and women from Asia who travel to the Gulf nation with promises of well-paid jobs that can be used to support families back home. Figures indicate up to 90 per cent of the Qatari population are foreigners, with many of these migrants meeting the demand for cheap labourers for the booming construction industry.

Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the ITUC in AFL-CIO website said, "In a country consisting of only 250,000 Qatari nationals, there are 1.4 million migrant workers, making up around 90 per cent of the workforce. They are treated as modern-day slaves. Over the next seven years, Qatar is embarking on a $150 billion spending spree as it gets ready to host the World Cup. Qatar will need another million workers to complete new roads, metros, railways, deep water port, hotels and stadiums. Whole cities will emerge from the sand."

Sharan also disclosed the living conditions of migrant workers.

"The first thing you notice is the hundreds of pairs of scuffed and broken work boots lined up alongside bedroom walls. The men they belong to are washing, cooking or hidden in bunk beds in darkened rooms, where grown men share with eight, 10, 12 to a room. There is no space to unwind, there is no privacy," she shared.

Many workers migrate to Middle East use irregular channels as a transit route. They often lack even the basic knowledge of the destination country, making them vulnerable to exploitation by labour recruiters. It is a time-tested and age-old process - the migrant workers take high interest loans, usually from local money lenders to pay the labour brokers’ placement fee, are promised false jobs and wages, and have their identity documents confiscated upon arrival in the host country. These factors combine to make Indian migrant workers susceptible to human trafficking, debt bondage and forced labour.

The workers from India make up a high proportion of workers travelling to Qatar in search of employment, and are documented to have suffered from a range of exploitative practices that in some cases amount to forced labour and domestic servitude – namely, extortionate recruitment fees, illegal confiscation of passports, withholding of salaries, excessive working hours, hazardous workplaces, unhygienic living conditions, and physical, psychological and sexual abuse from employers. Amnesty International reported that 279 Indian migrant workers died in Qatar in 2014 in its report 'Promising Little, Delivering Less: Qatar and Migrant Abuse ahead of the 2022 Football World Cup'.

Anirudh Pinnamraju, a civil engineer from Telangana is currently working in Qatar. He says, "The workers are made to work in soaring temperatures of 50 degrees to complete the work in time, failing which, FIFA may cancel the host status to Qatar. Many labourers from India take huge loans to come to Qatar and work. They get salaries once in three to six months. The mounting pressure of interest for the loan back home makes them send most of their pay to India and they are left with very less money or nothing at all. And, because of this they don't eat properly and work in hard conditions. If they raise their voice or strike they might end up in jail or be removed from the job."

Concurring with Anirudh, Waqas Ahmend, resident of Peshawar, Pakistan, who worked as an air conditioning supervisor for two years in Qatar says, "The living conditions are in shambles. There are huge buildings close to the work site. They are like camps with huge rooms and roughly 40-45 people are stuffed in it. Everyone gets just one mattress space to put their belongings and above it are two nails to hang their clothes. The pay is at the mercy of the employers; usually before 10th of every month and you have to work till they say stop. If you don't, they will leave you unemployed, without your passport, which is with the company and you are left with no way to go home. Eventually you either get arrested as an illegal migrant or end up dying. The only option is to work, whatever are the conditions."

Qatar is spending over $200 billion to get the country ready for a World Cup, and building much of the required infrastructure from scratch, utilizing a heavy flow of migrant workers. Once FIFA made the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to a country with historic issues of forced labour, it too assumed some responsibility for how the workers involved were treated.

In response to increasing global criticism on the conditions of migrant workers in Qatar's construction industry, the Qatari government has made promises of reform. While there have been some positive developments, such as the requirement that companies set up bank accounts for workers and pay wages electronically, as well as, bans on mid-day outdoor work; the reforms need to be reinforced with collective action from employers, police, and the judiciary. Currently there is insufficient commitment to enforcing existing laws.

One of Qatar’s most controversial labour laws is the exit permit, whereby workers are unable to leave the country without their employer’s permission. The government has proposed that exit permits will be granted 72 hours after a migrant worker applies to leave the country and within this period their employer would have a chance to object and prevent them from leaving – the proposal is evidently vulnerable to abuse.

A recent report by Amnesty International shows that in nine key areas critical to the rights of migrant workers in Qatar, there has been no progress in five areas and only partial or limited progress in the other four areas. Around seven years remain until the sporting extravaganza starts and the pressure to prepare the stadiums in time will surely take toll on the workers if the same conditions prevail in coming years.

There is uproar globally over the issue with many criticising the country’s labour policies through various social networking sites. 'Walk Free' is an international organisation spearheading a movement with over 8 million supporters from around the world, using a united voice to tackle the issue of modern slavery. They are mobilising the collective global voice to apply pressure on FIFA and asking them to capitalise on the influence it currently holds with Qatar to ensure the 2022 World Cup is free of slave labour.

"We work with a range of partner organisations that are also active on this issue such as ITUC, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Migrant-Rights.org and others to maximise our collective impact. Modern slavery is tainting the ‘beautiful game’. FIFA can and should use the influence it has to fight for a slavery-free World Cup," says Zoe Birchall from Walk Free.

The World Cup provides an important opportunity to make progress and there are many different stakeholders that can use their influence to secure progress – such as FIFA.