New scandal in Qatar: migrants ran out of stadiums ahead of FIFA polls

A new report by human rights consulting firm Equidem Research and Consulting says migrant workers building stadiums that will host this year’s World Cup in Qatar were hastily removed from their jobs ahead of inspections. , FIFA, so that they could not complain about the conditions in which they worked.

The report, cited by the Daily Mail, also said that two people died at the stadium hosting the final, one of them last year, and that human rights violations, including physical ones, occurred during the work in all premises. punishment when workers did not work properly or complained about conditions. Migrants have also been forced to work while incarcerated due to Covid-19.

Qatari officials have already dismissed the report as “completely unbalanced”, representing only one side of the story, but the document consolidates the testimony of migrant workers who have reported on the situation.

A Nepali man who worked at Lusail Stadium, which will host the final, said: “The company set off the fire alarm on purpose. When we heard this, we all left. Then we got into buses and they took us away. “

He continued, “At first we thought it was a fire alarm. Everyone left. But after this happened two or three times, people stopped going out. The workers began to hide in order to be able to complain to the FIFA group. The company then began checking to see if there were still people inside. If someone was caught, he either went home, or his salary was reduced.”

The investigation was based on the testimony of 60 migrants who worked at stadiums in Qatar. Equidem Research and Consulting contacted 982 employees, but most of them refused to talk about their experiences for fear of retribution.

Deaths at Lusail Stadium

Workers at Lusail Stadium said they saw two men die. One was from Bangladesh and died in March 2019. “It was just a few days after I started working there. He fell from a height equivalent to the fifth floor. This made me nervous. I always checked my belt, expiration date. I’ve always been very careful.”

A Chinese worker was reportedly killed in the same stadium last year. Another migrant said: “He fell from a height of about 25 meters. We heard that he didn’t move when they took him to the hospital. They said that the belt came off, which led to the fall.

According to investigators, human rights violations took place in all the premises. A Kenyan worker said he was regularly subjected to physical abuse by his superiors. “They beat us in front of other workers to make us work faster or do what we were doing. We couldn’t complain because they were our superiors.”

Migrants were also forced to work while incarcerated. “I tried to stay at home, but the company told me to go to work. Everyone in Qatar was incarcerated and I was full of fear because of the coronavirus. I was sent to several places and ended up with covid. “Don’t treat me well, I’m sick. I had a fever and terrible pains in my body.”