Qatar 2022: A year after the World Cup NGOs find progress on migrants' rights is stalling as employers continue to abuse workers with impunity; incl. comment from FIFA
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A year after the World Cup kicked off in Qatar in 2022, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have published briefings examining progress on migrant workers' rights in the emirate.
Amnesty International's A Legacy in Jeopardy examines continued abuses of migrant workers, pervasive power imbalances in favour of employers and the lack of access to remedy for workers in Qatar. In particular, Amnesty International highlighted continued restrictions on workers' ability to change jobs, despite the need for workers to obtain permission from employers supposedly being abolished. An information request to the government revealed tens of thousands of workers' requests to change job being refused, without clarity on the reasons. Amnesty International also found continuing high rates of wage theft, common payment of illegal recruitment fees and an urgent need to strengthen protections for workers exposed to extreme heat. Regarding access to remedy for workers, Amnesty International acknowledged the improvements brought by a government overhaul of labour courts, new Committees for the Settlement of Labour Disputes and a Workers' Support and Insurance Fund but highlighted that in practice navigating these systems is a length and challenging process for migrant workers. Employers are consequently able to act with impunity.
Qatar’s continued failure to properly enforce or strengthen its pre-World Cup labour reforms puts any potential legacy for workers in serious peril. The government must urgently renew its commitment to protecting workers, while both FIFA and Qatar should agree to remediation plans for all those who suffered. From illegal recruitment fees to unpaid wages, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers lost their money, health and even their lives while FIFA and Qatar tried to deflect and deny responsibility. Today, a year on from the tournament too little has been done to right all these wrongs, but the workers who made the 2022 World Cup possible must not be forgotten.Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic Social Justice
Human Rights Watch says FIFA and the Qatar Government have failed to remedy abuse of migrant workers who made the World Cup possible. HRW says there are many workers who have stayed in Qatar after the tournament who now are without jobs and pay, while also being owed outstanding wages and benefits by companies who have exploited them. Many are stranded in Qatar, afraid that if they leave for their home countries, they will not be able to get justice. At the same time, courts are reportedly slow to adjudicate cases of abuse of tournament workers.
Changing jobs is still a problem, workers can’t change without the NOC, it is impossible to change without it. It is like a silent requirement. New employers still require NOCs mostly, and old companies don’t want to give it.Diplomat from a workers’ origin country
Both NGOs highlighted limited benefits of some frameworks, with Amnesty International saying heat protection measures are reportedly better for construction and delivery drivers, for example, and HRW citing anecdotal examples of successful beneficiaries from the Workers Support Fund. However, both organisations highlighted the stalled progress of worker welfare in Qatar. In a statement to the media, Fifa said it was "undeniable that significant progress has taken place", but accepted that "heightened efforts are needed to ensure the reforms benefit all workers in the country".