Amnesty insists on investigations into dead migrant workers in Qatar

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Workers in Doha: Dozens of deaths on stadium construction sites since 2015

Photo: Lars Baron / Bongarts / Getty Images

Amnesty International is calling for an investigation into the deaths of migrant workers in the World Cup host country, Qatar.

The authorities of the Gulf emirate have failed to clear up numerous cases over the past ten years, according to a recent report by the human rights organization.

There are indications of a connection between the deaths and the dangerous working conditions in the emirate.

According to the Amnesty report, authorities in Qatar routinely issued death certificates without properly examining the deceased. Instead, the deaths were attributed to "natural causes" or vaguely defined "heart defects". "When relatively young and healthy men suddenly die in extreme heat after many hours of work, this raises serious questions about working conditions in Qatar," said Amnesty expert Katja Müller-Fahlbusch.

According to the British Guardian, more than 6,500 workers from Southeast Asia have died since the 2010 World Cup in Qatar.

Qatar's government argues the death rate is in an expected range given more than 1.4 million people from the region in the country.

The Guardian figures do not reveal exactly what activities the deceased carried out.

According to Amnesty, it is unclear how many workers have died in preparation for the World Cup.

World Cup organizers speak of 37.

Working conditions have improved somewhat in the meantime

According to the organization, vague formulations to determine the cause of death were also used in more than half of the 35 deaths that have been recorded on the stadium construction sites for the next soccer World Cup since 2015.

This suggests that in the cases in question probably no meaningful investigations have been carried out, criticized Amnesty.

Since the controversial award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, there has been a lot of criticism of the human rights situation there and the conditions for workers on the stadium construction sites.

Recently there have been increasing calls for a boycott of the tournament.

Amnesty International believes that Qatar has recently improved the situation of foreign workers, but the country has not implemented important reforms adequately. Reforms aimed at improving the situation of migrant workers were only decided in Qatar after sustained international criticism. For example, Qatar dismantled the Kafala system. This system, which is also widespread in other countries in the region, firmly ties foreign workers to a local guarantor such as an employer. Migrants can now leave the country or change jobs without the consent of their employer.

An estimated two million migrant workers live in Qatar.

They come mainly from poor countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal and India.

Qatar had repeatedly rejected the criticism of the working conditions and referred to reforms in the run-up to the World Cup.

The tournament is scheduled to begin on November 21, 2022.

apr / AFP / dpa