The working conditions of security guards in Qatar, “including in projects related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup”are comparable to “forced labor”denounces the NGO Amnesty International in a report Thursday, April 7.
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Thousands of agents must be recruited by the World Cup, which takes place from November 21 to December 18, when 1.2 and 1.4 million people will visit the emirate. Thirty-four current and former employees of eight private security companies, migrant workers mainly from Kenya and Uganda, describe working days of more than 12 hours, 7 days a week (equivalent to 84 hours a week), sometimes no shade or drinking water in the warmer months.
However, Qatari law provides for a maximum of 60 hours of work per week and one day of rest, the minimum set by the International Labor Organization. Workers who take this leave or sick leave “risk (…) arbitrary deductions from their wages”continues Amnesty International, which also notes insufficiently paid overtime, without the opportunity to be defended by a union.
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“You can’t complain, otherwise you’ll be fired and expelled”, says one of the employees interviewed between April 2021 and February 2022. Working conditions and wages vary according to their origin, with workers from sub-Saharan Africa being the most mistreated, assure these employees. A large proportion of them add that they have lived in housing “overcrowded and unsanitary”. These migrants have notably worked for three companies involved in FIFA tournaments in Qatar (Club World Cup and Arab Cup).
The governing body of world football and the Supreme Organizing Committee of the World Cup-2022 have not renewed their contracts with two of them and have reported them to the Qatari Ministry of Labor, indicates the NGO. But she feels it didn’t happen “in a timely manner”. Some companies will always try to “bypass the system”replied the Supreme Committee, which undertakes to rectify abuses, to Amnesty International.
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“Qatar took immediate action to address specific instances of wrongdoing”assured the Ministry of Labor, according to which “the prevalence of companies breaking the rules has and will continue to decline”. Criticized since being awarded the first World Cup in an Arab country in 2010, Qatar has carried out major reforms, abolishing the sponsorship system making employees quasi-property of their employer and establishing a salary hourly minimum.