Six months after the FIFA World Cup 2022 concluded in Qatar, hundreds of workers who toiled to make it a success say they were subject to extreme labour abuse, including wage theft, long work hours and being charged hefty recruitment fees, according to two reports released this week.

Amnesty International and Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) have both issued separate reports documenting the plight of workers from Nepal, Kenya, Ghana, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Uganda.

Amnesty’s report focussed on testimonies of those employed by Teyseer Security Services on short-term contracts to serve during the World Cup. The workers, all of whom had paid high fees to obtain jobs, were deployed as marshals and security guards at various locations, including the Khalifa International Stadium, FIFA fan zones, the Corniche, and both in and outside the metro station in Souk Waqif in Doha...

The BHRRC report also found workers paid illegal recruitment fees that resulted in debt bondage, and “that all interviewed workers experienced labour exploitation during the World Cup, including 20 workers employed by official Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup contractors and four workers for subcontractors of official contractors. Sixteen workers were employed or subcontracted by multinational companies.”

Amongst the key findings of their report are:

• Failure of companies to provide access to remedy and transparent grievance mechanism
• Unethical recruitment practices
• Violations of employment conditions
• Struggles to change employment, despite reforms that allow job mobility

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