HRW urges FIFA and Qatari authorities to guarantee wages to migrant workers

MADRID, 12 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The NGO Human Right Watch (HRW) has urged FIFA and the Qatari authorities to ensure that the migrant workers who have made the World Cup possible receive their full wages and benefits and are not arrested or deported for participating in protests.

The organization has also asked FIFA and the Qatari authorities to address the underlying complaints of salary abuse, including by supporting a reparation fund to address "this problem in a comprehensive manner".

To substantiate their demands, HRW has interviewed 32 migrant workers from India, Kenya and Nepal who have recently participated in the strikes for the conditions they received while doing their work in preparation for the World Cup.

Most of the migrant workers have detailed that they had participated in strikes to protest wage theft due to employers not paying wages on time, a process that sometimes dragged on for months.

Other workers on short-term visas have gone on strike after companies told them they would be sent home before their two-year contract was up.

"The strikes and protests of migrant workers in Qatar are an act of desperation for workers demanding action against wage theft," said Michael Page, HRW's deputy Middle East director.

"With weeks to go before the World Cup kicks off, especially when construction work in Qatar is finally finished, the Qatari authorities must ensure that workers' wages and benefits are paid on time and in full rather than penalizing them for ask for what is legitimately theirs," he asserted.

The workers have explained to the NGO that strikes occur in phases. When companies don't pay them for months, they decide to stay in their accommodation and refuse to show up for work. When wage delays persist later, migrant workers protest in the streets, sometimes in front of government buildings or company headquarters, or even block traffic.

Human rights organizations have reported that the Government of Qatar has so far deported at least 60 migrant workers.

Asked about these expulsions, the Qatar Ministry of Labor assured that they were arrested in a strike held on August 14 for "violating Qatar's public security laws."

However, other migrant workers have confessed that they had decided not to join the strikes for fear of reprisals from both their employer and the Qatari authorities, something that has however left them with little recourse to recover unpaid wages or negotiate a better job. accommodation.

According to HRW, Article 116 of the Qatar Labor Law grants only Qatari nationals the right to form workers' associations or trade unions, depriving migrant workers of their right to freedom of association and to form trade unions.

"While Qatar has acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in 2018 it maintained several formal reservations, including the interpretation of the term 'trade unions' in accordance with its national legislation", has asserted the organization.

However, HRW has reiterated its request to the Qatari authorities and to FIFA to ensure that the workers receive the wages and benefits owed to them.

"The least that FIFA and the Qatari authorities can do is ensure that workers receive the wages and benefits owed to them as a matter of priority and establish a reparation fund that builds on existing compensation mechanisms, such as the Fund. of Insurance and Support for Workers, to address past and current widespread wage abuse," said Pagina.