Abrar Hussain: Amnesty International has alleged that dozens of migrants working on Qatar’s $45 billion World Cup final city of Lusail have gone unpaid for months, the latest rights accusation against the 2022 tournament host.
Mercury MENA “failed to pay its workers thousands of dollars in wages and work benefits, leaving them stranded and penniless” in the country, according to the London-based rights group.
However, football’s governing body FIFA in response accused Amnesty of being “misleading” and claimed the non-payments were not connected to the 2022 tournament.
Amnesty alleges that at least 78 employees from Nepal, India and the Philippines had not been paid since February 2016 and were owed an average of $2,000 (1,700 euros) — for some, the equivalent of several months’ wages.
In some cases this had “ruined lives”, said Amnesty, which urged the Doha government to pay the workers, some of whom took out huge loans to secure a job in the super-wealthy Gulf state.
One worker, Ernesto, a piping foreman from the Philippines, told Amnesty he was in greater debt after working in Qatar for two years than before he arrived in the country. Other laborers from Nepal said they had to take their children out of school or sell land to cover debts incurred by working in Qatar.
Steve Cockburn, Amnesty’s director of global issues claimed Mercury MENA “took advantage” of Qatar’s “kafala” system, which prevents workers from changing jobs or leaving the country without the permission of bosses.
Unpaid workers eventually allowed to leave Qatar only did so at their own cost, said Amnesty.
As well as helping build Lusail city, which is also the venue for the 2022 football tournament’s opening match, Mercury MENA helped build a showcase stadium that was an integral part of Qatar’s winning presentation to FIFA in December 2010.
FIFA has rejected the Amnesty claims.
The findings come at a time when the World Cup host is under intense scrutiny over labor rights. There are some two million foreign workers in Qatar, many employed directly or indirectly on vast World Cup infrastructure projects. Source: The Dawn
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