Less than 100 days before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, Human Rights Watch on Friday called on the International Football Association (FIFA) and the host country to increase compensation for migrant workers and their families.
The advocacy organization has called for “a comprehensive treatment program for workers who have sustained serious injuries, including death and injury, and wage increases” while working on World Cup-related projects such as stadiums, transportation and hotels.
Qatar has spent tens of billions of dollars on infrastructure since FIFA chose it to host the World Cup in 2010, and it is facing harsh criticism of its labor laws and the treatment of hundreds of thousands of workers, mostly from South Asia.
“Qatar has compensated some migrant workers who have faced serious abuses in recent years, but for many, these programs came too late and there is still a lot of work to do,” said Michael Page, Associate Director for the Middle East at Human Rights Watch.
He added that since 2010, the organization has said that the level of “uncompensated human rights violations … is high.”
Since 2020, the Qatar Workers Support Fund has paid about $164 million in compensation to 36,373 workers from 17 different countries, according to Human Rights Watch, citing data from the Qatar Ministry of Labor.
The organization did not specify the amount of compensation that is still required, but Amnesty International indicated that FIFA must pay $440 million in compensation to workers, the same amount it will pay for the prize money provided to the 32 participating federations. at the World Cup in Qatar.
Source: AB