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Context: World Cup 2022 and the migrant workers who built the Qatar dream
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Qatar has built an entire city, including several stadiums for the 2022 World Cup finals
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Country is under scrutiny for its treatment of migrant workers who built the infrastructures for the event
The 2022 World Cup kicked off in Qatar last month at Al Bayt stadium. This is one of several new stadiums built for the tournament which will end on December 18.
Qatar has faced intense criticism from human rights groups over its treatment of migrant workers who have built infrastructures for the event. This includes seven stadiums, as well as a new metro system, airport, roads, about 100 hotels and a city. Foreigners make up roughly 88 per cent of Qatar’s population.
NGO Amnesty International released a 48-page report called Reality Check 2021. It said practices such as withholding salaries and charging workers to change jobs were still common, despite labour reforms in 2014.
Changes in 2014 included paying wages electronically to avoid late payments and fining employers for holding an employee’s passport. In 2020, the country reformed its kafala system that tied workers’ visas to their jobs and set a minimum wage of 1,000 Qatari riyals (HK$2,127) a month.
The government of Qatar said its labour system was still a work in progress. But it denied allegations in the report that thousands of migrant workers in the 2022 World Cup host nation were being trapped and exploited.
Separately, British newspaper The Guardian reported last year that at least 6,500 migrant workers – many of them working on World Cup projects – had died in Qatar since 2010. In response, Qatar said the number of deaths was proportionate to the size of the migrant workforce, and included many non-manual workers.
Fifa is the international football governing body. Amnesty and other groups have called on Fifa to set aside US$440 million (HK$3.41 billion) to pay migrant workers in Qatar for human rights abuses. They have told Fifa and Qatar to create a programme to repay unpaid wages, recruitment fees and compensation for injuries and deaths.
Fifa said in May it was assessing Amnesty’s proposition and had already compensated some workers, who had received US$22.6 million as of December 2021.
Agence France-Presse, Reuters and Associated Press
Question prompts:
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“Migrant workers helped create Qatar’s World Cup dream.” What evidence from Context supports this statement?
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How has Qatar treated its foreign workers? Explain using information from Context.
Qatar’s treatment of migrants casts shadow over World Cup
Photo
Question prompts:
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What illustration is used to resemble the letter “Q” in the banner? Based on information in Context, what does it likely represent?
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Using Glossary and Context, explain why people might want to boycott the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
German football team makes a statement at Fifa World Cup in Qatar
News: EU parliament demands Fifa compensate workers who suffered rights abuses
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The European Parliament voted in favour of a resolution that calls on Fifa to help compensate workers who suffered human rights abuses
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This aims to help families of migrant workers who died and those who sustained injuries linked to World Cup construction projects
The European Parliament passed a resolution late last month criticising the deaths of foreign workers during preparations for the World Cup.
EU lawmakers “deplore the deaths of thousands of migrant workers primarily in the construction sector who helped the country prepare for the tournament, as well as all those injured”, a press release said.
Sravan Kalladi and his father Ramesh both worked for the same company building roads that lead to the World Cup stadiums. The duo went to the Gulf state hoping to build a better life for themselves. But only Sravan returned home to India. His 50-year-old father collapsed and died at the camp where they lived.
The working conditions were “not good at all”, the 29-year-old said, describing long working hours and underpaid overtime. His father, a driver, “used to go to work at 3am and come back at 11pm”, he said.
They were among six to eight people living in a room at the camp where “even four people could not sit properly if they wanted to”, he added. “We had to work in extreme weather, and the food we got was not good.”
But after taking his father’s body back home to the southern Indian state of Telangana, Sravan never returned to Qatar. With only a month’s salary as compensation from the company, an unfinished house is now a stark reminder of the family’s unfulfilled dreams and crippled finances.
“We are the company’s when we are alive but not when we are dead,” he said. “We trusted them, and that is why we left our homes and went to work for them, and they let us down.”
EU lawmakers called on the international football governing body Fifa to help compensate the families of dead migrant workers as measures put in place by the Qatari government were not sufficient.
DPA and Agence France-Presse
Question prompts:
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What could the Qatari government have done to help the Kalladis and ensure that they were treated fairly?
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Refer to Fifa’s objectives in Glossary. To what extent do you agree that Fifa should help compensate the families of dead migrant workers who built World Cup infrastructure? Explain.
No home away from home for Hong Kong domestic workers fired after contracting Covid
Issue: Fifa president Infantino promised moves to support migrant workers after hitting out at “hypocritical” Qatar criticism
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A group of 11 European football associations said it welcomed promises from Fifa of support for migrant labourers in Qatar
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This includes providing an avenue for the creation of a legacy fund from 2022 World Cup proceeds for what it said were some of the world’s most vulnerable people
Fifa president Gianni Infantino accused Western countries of “hypocrisy” and slammed criticism towards World Cup host Qatar in his opening speech before the tournament.
“How many of these European or Western business companies who earn millions from Qatar – billions – how many of them have addressed migrant workers’ rights with the authorities ... But we did, and Fifa generates much less than any of these companies from Qatar,” Infantino said on November 19.
Amnesty International accused Infantino of brushing aside “legitimate human rights criticisms” after his speech.
“Infantino is dismissing the enormous price paid by migrant workers to make his flagship tournament possible,” said Steve Cockburn, head of economic and social justice. He added that “if Fifa is to salvage anything from this tournament” it must invest “a significant part of the US$6 billion” it will make from the World Cup in a fund to “compensate workers and their families directly”.
A Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) working group, which features 11 European nations including England and Wales, has backed calls for Fifa and the Qatari government to establish a migrant workers’ centre in the country.
The working group representatives met Fifa at a summit in Doha last month. The president said the International Labour Organization (ILO) was opening an office in the Qatari capital Doha, offering workers and unions access to remediation. He also confirmed plans for a legacy fund to be set up after the tournament.
The working group accepted the moves represented “substantial progress” and added in a statement that they would return to Qatar in 2023 to “see the initiatives first-hand and ensure that a sustainable legacy is delivered”.
Reuters
Question prompts:
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Why did Infantino accuse Western countries of hypocrisy? To what extent do you agree with his argument? Explain.
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Is Fifa doing enough to compensate families of dead migrant workers and those who were injured? Using News and Issue, provide ONE argument for and ONE against this.
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Sample answers
Context:
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“Migrant workers helped create Qatar’s World Cup dream.” What evidence from Context supports this statement? Foreign labourers built seven stadiums, as well as a new metro system, airport, roads, about 100 hotels and a city. Without them, Qatar would not have been able to host this international football tournament.
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How has Qatar treated its foreign workers? Explain using information from Context. Qatar has treated its foreign workers badly as seen by how employers were allowed to withhold salaries and workers were charged to change jobs. The number of deaths also suggests the Qatari government has not paid enough attention to safety regulations.
Photo:
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What illustration is used to resemble the letter “Q” in the banner? Based on information in Context, what does it likely represent? A football with a chain has replaced the letter “Q” in the banner. This likely represents how migrant workers in Qatar were exploited.
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Using Glossary and Context, explain why people might want to boycott the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. People might want to boycott the World Cup in protest of how the country treats its migrant workers. For example, 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since 2010, and Amnesty International released a report showing that labour abuses were still common in the country.
News:
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What could the Qatari government have done to help the Kalladis and ensure that they were treated fairly? The Qatari government could have set stricter policies concerning the compensation of workers who were injured or whose deaths were related to their jobs. They should require more than a month’s salary as compensation for death. Authorities should have more safety checks at sites to ensure that workers were better protected from the heat and that they were not working overtime. They should also inspect the housing arrangements to ensure that workers had more room and privacy, and they should also require camps to have medical staff nearby in case of emergencies.
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Refer to Fifa’s objectives in Glossary. To what extent do you agree that Fifa should help compensate the families of dead migrant workers who built World Cup infrastructure? Explain. Fifa should compensate the families of dead migrant workers, especially since Fifa has committed to respecting internationally recognised human rights. Fifa also makes a lot of money from the World Cup, so it should return those profits to the people who worked on the projects. (accept other reasonable answers)
Issue:
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Why did Infantino accuse Western countries of hypocrisy? To what extent do you agree with his argument? Explain. The Fifa president accused Western countries of hypocrisy because many European or Western companies will also profit from the World Cup, but they had not done as much as Fifa had. I somewhat agree with Infantino because those other companies should also be speaking up about the abuses of migrant workers and contributing their profits to help them. But this doesn’t absolve Fifa of its culpability as the tournament organiser – ultimately, they are most responsible for working with Qatar’s government. (accept other reasonable answers)
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Is Fifa doing enough to compensate families of dead migrant workers and those who were injured? Using News and Issue, provide ONE argument for and ONE against this. Yes, because it has compensated a number of workers, and it is teaming up with ILO to offer workers and unions access to remediation so that those who did not get the compensation they deserve can have a second chance to make their claims. On the other hand, considering Fifa’s profits from the 2022 World Cup, there is a lot more that can be done to guarantee the safety and well-being of the migrant workers who contributed to the event. (accept other reasonable answers)
