World Cup 2022 – New human rights violations committed in Qatar

Amnesty International highlighted the working conditions of security guards in Qatar, including projects related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The organization said in a report published on its website: “it discovered that Qatar’s security guards were working under conditions that amounted to forced labor, including projects related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup”.

The organization documented the experiences of 34 staff members currently working, or who have worked, in eight private security companies in Qatar, mainly migrant workers from Kenya and Uganda, who said they were forced to work more than 12 hours a day, 74 hours a week, sometimes in the direct sun without shade or drinking water during the emirate’s hottest months.

“Workers taking weekly or sick leave risk arbitrary wage discounts”, it said.

The report also pointed to additional unpaid working hours, in addition to the lack of unions defending workers’ rights, adding that the working conditions of security guards in Qatar and their wages vary according to the countries of origin, and those who suffer the worst situation are those from sub-Saharan Africa.

The report quoted the Qatari Ministry of Labor as confirming that Qatar took immediate measures to deal with violations every time they were reported, stressing that companies that violate the rules have decreased, and will continue to decline.

Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice Stephen Cockburn said: All the violations we have discovered can be attributed to the huge power imbalance between employers and foreign workers in Qatar, which indicates that there are still significant gaps in the authorities’ application of labor laws.

Many of the security guards we spoke to know their employers were breaking the law, he said, but they were not able to defy them. The physically and emotionally exhausted workers continued to work in their workplaces under the threat of financial sanctions, or worse, termination of their contract or deportation, he said.

Qatar needs to employ thousands of guards by the time it hosts the World Cup, which will be held from November 21st to December 18th. During the event, between (1.2 and 1.4) million people are expected to visit the Emirate.