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LequteMan
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According to THE GUARDIAN UK, Qatar's construction frenzy ahead of the 2022 World Cup is on course to cost the lives of at least 4,000 migrant workers before a ball is kicked said the International Trade Union Congress.
The group has been scrutinizing builders' deaths in the gulf emirate for the last two years and said that at least half a million extra workers from countries includingNepal, India and Sri Lanka are expected to flood in to complete stadiums, hotels and infrastructure in time for theWorld Cupkick off.
The annual death toll among those working on building sites could rise to 600 a year – almost a dozen a week – unless the Doha government makes urgent reforms.
The estimate is based on current mortality figures for Nepalese and Indian workers who form the bulk of Qatar's 1.2 million-strong migrant work force, mostly builders. While it admits that the casue of death is not clear for many of the deceased, it believes harsh and dangerous conditions at work and cramped and squalid living quarters are to blame.
A Guardian investigation had revealed that 44 Nepalese workers died between 4 June – 8 August this year, around half from heart failure or workplace accidents.
The Indian ambassador in Qatar has said 82 Indian workers died in the first five months of this year and 1,460 complained to the embassy about labour conditions and consular problems.
Workers described forced labour in 50C heat, employers retain salaries for several months making it impossible for them to leave and denial of free drinking water as part of what they face. The investigation found sickness is endemic among workers living in overcrowded and insanitary conditions and hunger has been reported.
ITUC warned that more workers will die building the infrastructure in the run up to the World Cup than the players on the field if working practices are not changed.
"Nothing of any substance is being done by the Qatar authorities on this issue," said Sharan Burrow, the general secretary of the Brussels-based organization. He added that “the evidence-based assessment of the mortality rate of migrant workers in Qatar shows that at least one worker on average per day is dying. In the absence of real measures to tackle that and an increase in 50% of the migrant workforce, there will be a concominant increase in deaths.”
Prof S Irudaya Rajan, chairman of the research unit on international migration at the centre for development studies in Kerala, India, said: "They need people from India and Nepal to give their hard work and they need better treatment because they are the ones building their whole economy.
"The Qataris have made them invisible in their economy but they have to make them visible. In the 21st century, labour should be treated equally to capital."
A leading expert in labour migration to the Gulf from south Asia warned Qatar that ill-treatment of workers will backfire because the labour forces they rely on to build their economies will start resisting.
The group has been scrutinizing builders' deaths in the gulf emirate for the last two years and said that at least half a million extra workers from countries includingNepal, India and Sri Lanka are expected to flood in to complete stadiums, hotels and infrastructure in time for theWorld Cupkick off.
The annual death toll among those working on building sites could rise to 600 a year – almost a dozen a week – unless the Doha government makes urgent reforms.
The estimate is based on current mortality figures for Nepalese and Indian workers who form the bulk of Qatar's 1.2 million-strong migrant work force, mostly builders. While it admits that the casue of death is not clear for many of the deceased, it believes harsh and dangerous conditions at work and cramped and squalid living quarters are to blame.
A Guardian investigation had revealed that 44 Nepalese workers died between 4 June – 8 August this year, around half from heart failure or workplace accidents.
The Indian ambassador in Qatar has said 82 Indian workers died in the first five months of this year and 1,460 complained to the embassy about labour conditions and consular problems.
Workers described forced labour in 50C heat, employers retain salaries for several months making it impossible for them to leave and denial of free drinking water as part of what they face. The investigation found sickness is endemic among workers living in overcrowded and insanitary conditions and hunger has been reported.
ITUC warned that more workers will die building the infrastructure in the run up to the World Cup than the players on the field if working practices are not changed.
"Nothing of any substance is being done by the Qatar authorities on this issue," said Sharan Burrow, the general secretary of the Brussels-based organization. He added that “the evidence-based assessment of the mortality rate of migrant workers in Qatar shows that at least one worker on average per day is dying. In the absence of real measures to tackle that and an increase in 50% of the migrant workforce, there will be a concominant increase in deaths.”
Prof S Irudaya Rajan, chairman of the research unit on international migration at the centre for development studies in Kerala, India, said: "They need people from India and Nepal to give their hard work and they need better treatment because they are the ones building their whole economy.
"The Qataris have made them invisible in their economy but they have to make them visible. In the 21st century, labour should be treated equally to capital."
A leading expert in labour migration to the Gulf from south Asia warned Qatar that ill-treatment of workers will backfire because the labour forces they rely on to build their economies will start resisting.
