Amnesty International attacks Qatar and demands investigation into deaths of foreign workers
International human rights organizations seem fed up with Qatari disregard for migrant workers rights in the country, with Amnesty International releasing a massive report attacking Doha, titled “Inaction”.
Inaction by Qatar
Amnesty International has released a damning report attacking Doha’s failure to implement global demands on migrant workers, titled: “in the prime of life: Qatar’s failure to investigate, compensate and prevent the deaths of foreign workers.”
Amnesty International has sent a strong message to Doha, calling on Qatar to investigate the deaths of many migrant workers.
It said it had “clear evidence of Qatar’s chronic failure to prevent, investigate and compensate the deaths of foreign workers,” a stern warning to Doha.
Circumstances of worker death
“Over the past decade, thousands of foreign workers have died unexpectedly and unexpectedly in Qatar, despite having passed mandatory medical examinations before traveling to the country,” said Amnesty International.
“It puts the thousands of unexplained deaths of foreign workers over the past decade in a very worrying context.”
“It remains extremely difficult to know how many people have died as a result of their working conditions; Because in most cases, the Qatari authorities are not investigating the cause of their deaths.”
She explained that: “Death certificates typically state that death is due to ”natural causes” or ”cardiac arrest” – descriptions that are almost meaningless in the proof of death – so the death is not linked to their working conditions.”
Analysis of death certificates
Notably, the human rights report states that it analyzed 18 death certificates issued by Qatari authorities between 2017 and 2021, 15 of which used vague terms including “unspecified heart failure” and “severe respiratory failure due to natural causes.”
The report also included the opinion of David Bailey, a pathologist and member of the World Health Organization’s “Death Certificate Working Group,” in which he asserted that “basically, everyone dies in the end due to respiratory or heart failure. These statements are meaningless if they are not accompanied by an explanation of why.”
Thorough and independent investigation
Amnesty International concluded its report by calling on the Qatari authorities to “conduct an independent, thorough and transparent investigation into all deaths of foreign workers and establish a mechanism to provide adequate compensation to the families of all deceased foreign workers whose working conditions may have contributed to their deaths”.
This comes a few months after the British Guardian newspaper revealed in February that more than 6500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since 2010, the year the Gulf state was awarded the honor of hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
“The report angered Qatar, which tried to deny the information, despite its international validity and assertion on several fronts, fearing the huge criticism it receives over migrant workers working conditions at the 2022 World Cup construction sites.”
