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Article

25 Nov 2019

Author:
Joe Wallen, The Telegraph (UK)

High and Dry: World Cup workers exploited, stranded and destitute

[Along with hundreds of others, Rabindra Kewat's] employers, Mercury MENA, failed to pay five months of his wages from January 2017. The company folded 11 months later leaving hundreds of Nepalis, Filipinos, Indians and Bangladeshis destitute and stranded...

Under Nepali law, a migrant traveling to work in Qatar should be provided with a free visa and travel but this is rarely implemented so Kewat [like the majority of Nepali workers] instead turned to... [recruitment agent] Paradise International...

[Amnesty researcher Angela Sherwood said] “We’ve seen people who’ve had to sell houses and haven’t been able to pay for medical care for their families.”

The exact number of Mercury MENA workers still waiting for unpaid wages is unclear...

However, a spokesperson for the returned Mercury MENA workers told the Telegraph there are hundreds of cases like Kewat’s in Nepal.

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