Nearing the one-year mark of the Gulf state’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup, rights organization Amnesty International charged Qatar on Thursday of “continuing failure” with regard to workers’ rights.
Qatar, a gas-rich emirate, came under heavy fire for its treatment of migrant workers and human rights record both during and after its successful bid to host the first World Cup in the Middle East.
However, Doha revised its labor regulations starting in 2017 and implemented health and safety changes as well as a minimum wage with the assistance of the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO).
Additionally, it eliminated the divisive “Kafala” sponsorship scheme, which granted businesses considerable control over whether employees could quit their positions or even leave the nation.
It’s not enough, according to Amnesty.
The FIFA men’s World Cup is being tarnished a year later by Qatar’s persistent inability to address the mistreatment of migrant laborers and sufficiently shield them from labor exploitation, the group said in a statement.
“The head of economic social justice for the group, Steve Cockburn, stated that the government needs to immediately reaffirm its commitment to protecting workers, and that FIFA and Qatar should both agree to remediation plans for all injured parties.”
The World Cup had “accelerated” the nation’s labor reforms and left a “lasting tournament legacy,” according to Qatar’s International Media Office in response.
According to the statement, the modifications it made “provide an example for other countries on how a system can be successfully overhauled” and “existing reforms continue to be fully implemented.”
Amnesty and other rights organizations have insisted time and time again that Qatar and the body that oversees international football set up a fund for worker fatalities and injuries sustained during the World Cup.
The government of Qatar has denied the existence of thousands of unintentional deaths on building sites, as claimed by human rights organizations, and has accused opponents of applying unfair judgment.
Amnesty questioned why the minimum wage was kept at its 2021 level in spite of rising living expenses, claiming that wage theft persisted and that companies were still abusing the system to prevent people from switching jobs.
The ILO’s Qatar office stated in its own progress report, which was released earlier this week, that employers continue to take retaliatory action against employees who seek job transfers. This reprisal takes the form of revoked resident visas or false accusations of absconding.
“Employer retaliation remains an issue, but the number of such cases received by the ILO has declined substantially compared to previous years,” the UN watchdog added.