Modern slavery is a largely hidden and prevalent crime. The kafala or sponsorship system, labour rules that tie the legal residency of migrant domestic workers to their employers, commonly adopted across the Middle East, is blamed for widespread modern slavery and abuse of migrant workers. [1] The Award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar in 2010 resulted in great international pressure on the Qatari government to reform the kafala law.
Qatar’s bid for hosting FIFA World Cup 2022 was granted in 2010, supported by the Arab League. This World Cup 2022 would be the first World Cup hosted by a Middle Eastern country. Qatar promoted their hosting of the tournament as representing the Arab World, and using it as an opportunity to bridge the gap between the Arab World and the West. [2]
Hosting the World Cup is believed to result in great economic benefit for Qatar—the country has embarked on a massive infrastructure program, spending close to an estimated U.S. 200 billion dollars in total [3], with Qatar’s migrant workers building new stadiums, transportation, and accommodation.
A characteristic of Qatar’s economy is its intense use of labour force, with only 10% of Qatar’s population constituted by locals, with the remaining 90% being expatriates.
The story of most migrants working in Qatar is similar.
Coming from impoverished backgrounds, they seek jobs as low-wage workers in Qatar to gain stable employment and support their families. They pay high recruitment fees—often obtained through loans that would take a year of work in Qatar to clear—to a recruiting agency in their home country.
Legally, employers are to bear the brunt of recruitment charges, not the workers; however, the Qatari government has stated that these illicit activities are crimes from the worker’s origin country, and hence, not a problem for Qatar to address, although some studies suggest that Qatari agents receive a substantial portion of these fees.
The migrant workers are often found to be given lower-wage jobs than they were promised on arriving in Qatar. Some are also coerced into signing contracts under manipulative or threatening circumstances.
Workers reported that they worked under unhealthy conditions and their wages were deducted for visa costs, bedding, or healthcare. Some were even denied free movement and access to healthcare. In some cases, employers stopped paying the wages entirely. Taking legal action by taking the employers to the Labour Dispute Resolution is expensive and usually ineffective for workers, indebting them further and resulting in retaliation.
The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the suffrage of migrant workers. Although the rate of infection of the disease is low with around 300 deaths totally due to the disease, wage-related exploitation and abuse of workers surged, with the virus being used as an excuse for delayed or unpaid wages. [4]
The heart of this wage abuse lies in the kafala system, which ties migrant workers’ visas to their employers. This leaves workers dependent on their employers for their legal residency and status in the country, placing them in a position of vulnerability that employers can, and more often than not, do take advantage of. [5]
Qatar’s recent labour reforms are a step towards dismantling the kafala system, with minimum wage declaration and the abolishment of the no objection certificates (NOC) which will allow workers to change their jobs without the permission of their employer. However, no change can be instigated through legislation alone and the weak implementation of these laws does not significantly change the exploitative relationship between employers and workers.
It is appalling to consider that a country which boasts the highest GDP in the world, one more than capable of remunerating all of its workers, subjects its migrant laborers to serious exploitation and despair, frequently delaying and deducting their wages, indebting them.
More than 6,500 migrant labourers were found to have died in Qatar in the last decade, averaging 12 workers dying per week in an investigation by The Guardian. The death records from Qatari officials report most deaths under cardiac arrest or “natural death,” making it difficult to ascertain exactly how many can be directly attributed to construction work or heat stress. Qatar’s government has not disputed the number of deaths, even stating the mortality rate is within the expected range for the workforce population.
The Guardian’s report asserts that the death records are not categorized by occupation, but plainly a significant proportion of migrant workers died—workers who would not have been in the country if Qatar hadn’t been hosting the World Cup.
It was this investigation released by The Guardian on February 23 which spurred protests by the playing teams.
The report hit first and hardest in Norway, with Norwegian clubs calling for a boycott of the Qatar World Cup and players donning t-shirts with the message, “Human rights, on and off the pitch to their games.” Germany, Netherlands, and Denmark followed suit shortly with their players lining up t-shirts with slogans such as “Human Rights,” “Who’s next?,” and “Football supports CHANGE.” [6]
However, not all protestors are in favour of boycotting. The German Football Federation maintains the cause can be better promoted by using the reach and publicity to spread awareness, and that it is too late to boycott the World Cup.
FIFA’s indifference towards addressing the allegations of modern slavery in Qatar, voicing concerns mainly regarding allegations of corruption, and the extreme heat in Qatar, has deeply alarmed other influential bodies, with the European Union (EU) passing a resolution demanding that FIFA “send a clear and strong message to Qatar” that the 2022 World Cup should not be “delivered by the assistance of modern slavery.” [7]
Under international pressure, FIFA launched a body to oversee the treatment of workers in Qatar’s World Cup stadiums; however, it proved ineffective as monitoring is not the root of the problem, the country’s sponsorship law that is inherently flawed and allows for exploitation of the vulnerable, is.
At the very least, FIFA speaks to state that it shall neither stop the protest movement nor open any disciplinary proceedings on the matter.
While a unified boycott of the World Cup 2022 doesn’t seem probable, the bid to host the World Cup 2022 puts Qatar in a spotlight which could bring about life-changing laws and practices in place.
Greater international pressure must be put on Qatar to hold employers accountable for abuses, uphold transparency and investigation of fatal accidents, and adopt a more climate-based work ban system.
Article by-
Vedica Rao
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