BRUSSELS — Qatari nationals are understandably proud of the infrastructure and the lifestyle they are building. It is referred to by many as paradise on earth. FIFA officials are hoping that the 2022 World Cup will be the most accessible World Cup, in an “easy living” country.
The dark side of Qatar is that for the overwhelming number of 2 million migrant workers it is certainly no paradise. These are the workers who construct and service that “easy living” on which Qatar seeks to attract international business, and FIFA stages the world’s biggest football tournament.
As the FIFA Congress meets on May 11 in Bahrain, it needs to remember the workers who build the roads and metro, drive the cars, maintain the impeccable gardens and public spaces, clean and manage family homes and affairs, serve in restaurants and shops and look after the tourists, the conference delegates, the sports fans; too many are trapped in an exploitative world of endless work.
Migrant workers want to help the Qataris build their nation and host the 2022 World Cup. They come in search of the dignity of work to build their own security for themselves and their families but too often they find that the promises are just an illusion.
For construction workers, grounds maintenance and other outdoor work the heat is oppressive, the hours are grueling and the accommodation is squalor with poor quality food, often limited water and the risk of disease from sub-standard kitchens and sanitation. When not at work, the majority of workers are locked in isolated labor camps, up to 10 grown men in tiny rooms with bunk beds and no recreation facilities. Mental health is a growing problem.
For many domestic workers the situation can be even worse as they are treated like slaves to the whims of all family members, beaten for perceived wrongs and often victims so sexual abuse. When they complain they are the one seen to be the guilty party.
And then there is the promise of wages workers will never see in their own developing economies in Asia and Africa. Lured by the possibilities of support for their families struggling to survive at home, they pay extortionary and illegal fees to corrupt recruitment agencies only to realize when they get to Qatar that they may never see the wages promised.
Contracts are often torn up and replaced with lower wage rates, jobs are switched and many are not paid for months on end. No electronic wage system can police the accuracy of rates of pay and it already proving ineffective where wages are simply denied or where for some the deductions from wages amount to theft.
On a regular trip to Qatar to listen to workers, I can only conclude FIFA’s new human rights statute needs to be put to the test today.
Nothing has changed for the now 2 million migrant workers who are still effectively “owned” by their employer. Contracts are still honored or not by the decision of the employer, not by the rule of law. Stories of unpaid wages are everywhere. Unchecked bullying mean workers are simply fired, forced to endure the harassment or run away which makes them the criminals in a police state where workers have no fundamental rights.
In fact, I was shocked to find the extortion associated with a culture of impunity has increased.
The term “free visa,” previously whispered about is now an open acknowledgement of what is effectively trafficking and with it comes agents making money at every point in the recruitment and employment cycle. Promised jobs, workers find themselves having paid illegal fees to agents in Qatar without work and with without identity cards which depend on employer application.
If they find work they then pay further for the ID card and in some cases other bogus fees and charges.
And I learned of a new racket whereby an employer can apply for bank accounts for workers still on their books but not working, deposit the wages only to withdraw them electronically, pay agent fees and charges and pocket the rest.
When workers like Narayan manage to negotiate the legal system and after some 24 court appearances in two years has a judgment handed down that he is owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages, the foreign employer disappeared and the Qatari partner company found responsible simply doesn’t pay.
There is an ineffective compliance system with a culture of impunity for Qatari nationals.
And despite the desperation of thousands of workers, an exit visa still depends on employer agreement, with an ineffective appeals system where a third of applications are rejected.
This is the “kafala” system of modern slavery — trapped in an open prison because all migrant workers are criminalized until deemed innocent rather than the systems of checks that other nations put in place to detain real criminals.
Paradise it is not for the workers who are denied fundamental human and labor rights, including the most basic of human freedoms, the freedom of association. These workers are indeed by their own assessment treated as “less than human.” But why?
Qatar is the richest country in the world per gross domestic product. Qatari nationals are looked after from birth to death, so why are they so lacking in humanity that they treat other human beings as slaves in their “paradise”? No migrant worker threatens this lifestyle but on the contrary is shoring it up the “easy life.”
Qatar can make a different choice and earn the respect of the world. This is what the ITUC asks of them. This is what government and employers with workers through the International Labour Organization ask of them.
In March, the ILO’s Governing Body decided to keep open the possibility of a Commission of Inquiry into Qatar despite the Gulf state’s unprecedented deployment of dozens of lobbyists to Geneva aiming to shut down any possibility of the U.N. body’s strongest compliance procedure being applied.
Worker delegates at the ILO, with the support of representatives of employers and governments of democratic countries, refused an attempt by Sudan and the United Arab Emirates to water down the Governing Body’s decision to review a Commission of Inquiry in November.
Now it’s FIFA’s turn. With the ink drying on its new human rights statute, the test is how far FIFA will be willing to go on human and labor rights in the next two World Cup countries, Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022. They have the power to influence governments and they can monitor and report on progress.
The answers to end modern slavery in Qatar are simple;
— Eliminate the exit visa;
— Establish a universal minimum wage;
— Allow collective voice, and
— Develop an effective labor court or compliance system.
The ILO will help with technical assistance, governments will help with shared experience and the ITUC with the large recruitment companies will help to ensure management of contracts and fair wages for skills deployed.
Leading companies want to sign agreements with our global union federations to ensure treatment for workers in Qatar is equal to the treatment of workers in the countries in which they are headquartered.
Workplace rights and grievance procedures that would ensure fair treatment, safety and productivity would result but the Qatari authorities are trying to intimidate the companies from guaranteeing migrant workers the dignity of decent work.
Why obstruct such a move which would be part of the solution where companies assume responsibility for a social contract above the law – something respected in all democratic countries where corporation and unions work together to bargain for workplace justice.
FIFA has taken some steps inside the stadiums being constructed, but they also know that their responsibility doesn’t end at the stadium gate. Stadiums alone do not make a World Cup.
FIFA can make it clear to the authorities that they expect change and support construction and service companies making the World Cup possible to act in accordance with international standards.
Qatar’s 2022 World Cup might just be a paradise on earth for Qataris, for migrant workers and football fans alike — if only we can end modern slavery and build a decent future on the principles of fair work and fair play for everyone.
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FIFA Has Role to Improve Migrant Workers’ Conditions in Qatar originally appeared on usnews.com
