Organizers for the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup - already under fire because of the possibility of having to move the tournament to the winter season - are extremely concerned about the slave labor conditions construction workers face as they build the facilities needed to host the games.
"Everyone is talking about the effect of Qatar's extreme heat on a few hundred footballers," said Umesh Upadhyaya, general secretary of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions, to the United Kingdom publication The Guardian. "But they are ignoring the hardships, blood and sweat of thousands of migrant workers, who will be building the World Cup stadiums in shifts that can last eight times the length of a football match."
According to The Guardian, workers - Nepalese workers, in particular, who make up the largest contingent of laborers - face abuses as defined by the International Labor Organization.
Documents obtained by The Guardian via the Nepalese embassy in Doha show that at least 44 workers have died between June 4 and August 8 due to heart failure or workplace accidents. Recently, 30 Nepalese workers sought safety in their embassy to escape their employers.
The Guardian describes work conditions that include: forced labor on World Cup infrastructure projects - including cases where the employees are denied meals; confiscation of passports and refusal to issue government identification cards that would give the immigrant labor force legal status in the country; lack of payment on months worth of salaries for labor services rendered in order to prevent workers from running away; complaints of deprivation of water while working in Qatar's desert heat that can reach as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit; and abysmal living conditions with sleeping quarters housing 12 to a room in some places.
"We were working on an empty stomach for 24 hours; 12 hours' work and then no food all night," said 27-year-old Ram Kumar Mahara to The Guardian. "When I complained, my manager assaulted me, kicked me out of the labour camp I lived in and refused to pay me anything. I had to beg for food from other workers."
The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, in charge of managing the 2022 World Cup preparations, said that they will investigate the allegations, including working with international human rights organizations to discuss labor standards that will be applied as constructions for World Cup facilities get underway.
"Like everyone viewing the video and images, and reading the accompanying texts, we are appalled by the findings presented in The Guardian's report," said the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee in a statement. "The health, safety, well-being and dignity of every worker that contributes to staging the 2022 FIFA World Cup is of the utmost importance to our committee."
Brendan Schwab of FIFPro - the worldwide representative organization for all professional soccer players - called it "inexcusable," demanding that FIFA and International Labor Organization investigate the allegations and inspect the work-sites.
"FIFPro assumes that adherence to FIFA's principles and international labor standards are conditions on which Qatar was awarded the extraordinary privilege of hosting football's greatest event," said Schwab in a statement on the FIFPro Web site. "FIFA has previously acted to ensure international labour standards are respected when it worked with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in the fight against child labour in the manufacture of footballs. A similar initiative is urgently needed in Qatar."
Controversy has marred the 2022 Qatar World Cup from the outset, as allegations of bribery and influence peddling were leveled at their World Cup bid committee, as the selection process was coming to a close.
"Yes, definitely there was direct political influences," said FIFA President Sepp Blatter to German magazine Die Zeit. "European leaders recommended to their voting members to vote for Qatar, because they have great economic interests with this country."
FIFA's Qatar construction problem comes to light as Brazil deals with its own headaches as they prepare for the 2014 World Cup. Protesters took to the streets of Brazil during FIFA's Confederation Cup to express their displeasure with the rising cost of stadium construction and renovation, transportation, and security - going from $11.4 billion to $28 billion, an increase of over 10 percent from the original proposed costs and three times Germany's costs when they hosted the 2006 World Cup.
"The protests were a surprise to everyone," said Ricardo Trade, CEO of Brazil 2014 Local Organizing Committee. "It's not the kind of image we would have liked to present, but [protests] are part of the democratic process."
World Cup organizers had promised that the private sector would foot the bill but costs have skyrocketed to three times over the proposed budget with Brazilian taxpayers having to help cover the extra cost.
"Students and the middle-class Brazilians are also participating in the protests, which makes this a slightly unusual social movement," said economist Christine Rifflart. "They find it indecent to spend between 11 and 15 billion dollars to organize this sporting event, while public services and infrastructure need money."
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