Human rights of migrant workers in Qatar violated: Report

Migrant workers engaged in construction work at the World Cup football venue in Qatar are subjected to forced labour, an Amnesty International report claimed on Wednesday.

These migrant workers, some from India, also face trouble while leaving the country, the report claimed.

Workers claimed they were threatened by managers of companies hired for construction, not paid salaries on time and not given exit permit to leave Qatar, according to the report “The Ugly Side of the Beautiful Game: Exploitation of Migrant Workers on a Qatar 2022 World Cup Venue”.

The report, prepared after interviewing 234 workers over a period of one year, said that Amnesty International identified more than 100 migrant workers in 2015 employed on the Khalifa stadium who were being “subjected to human rights abuses by the companies” for which they worked.

The labour rights of migrant workers involved in landscaping green spaces surrounding Khalifa Stadium were being abused by their employer, it claimed.
Amnesty also extensively quoted Indian workers describing their plight.

28-year-old metal worker at  Khalifa Stadium Hrishikesh (name changed) told Amnesty team in May last year that he had not received salary for 10 months. “I just want the money still owed to me and then I want to return home to India. My manager says he will help me get a permit to leave the country. He said the company will pay for my airfare and give me 90 Riyals, nothing more. I did not complain to any officials, who would I speak too? I am too scared the company will punish me.” Another worker Manoj upon completing his two-year contract in March 2015 asked his manager for an exit permit to return to India. However, the manager did not give him the exit permit and threatened him, saying: “I'll tell you when you can leave. Get back to work, don’t make this request of me again.”

Nabeel, a metal worker from India explained how he was threatened by the manager that he would not get his salary and would be prevented from changing employers or leaving the country, unless he kept working for the company.

“The manager threatened that if I do not continue working until the end of the contract in 2017, he would stop paying me and would refuse me an NOC or exit permit…So I have to work until the end of my contract,” he said.