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Dead before Qatar World Cup: construction industry rejects complicity - "excessively exaggerated"

2022-11-18T16:41:28.040Z


Dead before Qatar World Cup: construction industry rejects complicity - "excessively exaggerated" Created: 11/18/2022, 5:30 p.m By: Bona Hyun Working conditions in Qatar have been criticized. Before the start of the World Cup, the German construction industry rejected the criticism. © dpa Deaths and slavery: Shortly before the start of the World Cup, the debate about exploitation in Qatar is r


Dead before Qatar World Cup: construction industry rejects complicity - "excessively exaggerated"

Created: 11/18/2022, 5:30 p.m

By: Bona Hyun

Working conditions in Qatar have been criticized.

Before the start of the World Cup, the German construction industry rejected the criticism.

© dpa

Deaths and slavery: Shortly before the start of the World Cup, the debate about exploitation in Qatar is raging.

German construction companies consider this to be exaggerated.

Amnesty is appalled.

Qatar – Physically difficult tasks in the heat, poor hygienic conditions and non-payment of wages – a few days before the soccer World Cup, the discussion about the working conditions for guest workers in Qatar is still raging.

Massive human rights violations occurred during the construction of the World Cup stadiums, but the German construction industry does not understand the criticism.

Finally, the work accommodations of the employees in Qatar were regularly inspected and repeatedly mentioned as exemplary by independent observers, said Tim-Oliver Müller, General Manager of the Main Association of the German Construction Industry, to

kreiszeitung.de.

So are the events in Qatar being over-dramatized?

Amnesty International continues to have doubts.

Working conditions in Qatar: deaths and slavery in the construction of the World Cup stadiums

Working conditions in Qatar have been criticized in parts of politics for years.

In the weeks leading up to the World Cup in Qatar, reports from the media and human rights organizations about the circumstances of the guest workers in Qatar increased.

In particular, the deaths associated with the construction of the World Cup stadiums caused an uproar.

According to official figures from the Nepalese government, 1,700 people have died since construction work began.

Thousands of migrant workers in Qatar are alleged to have been enslaved and exploited.

The migrant workers in Qatar apparently lived in inhumane accommodation far outside of the city, in close quarters with many other colleagues.

Meanwhile, bonuses of up to 50,000 euros are being paid to national players for the World Cup, as reported.

World Cup in Qatar: German construction industry defends working conditions of construction workers

Despite the discussion about working conditions and human rights violations in Qatar, German companies were involved in the construction of the stadiums.

A specific number is not yet known.

Nevertheless, the industry sees the use as justified.

In the course of the labor market reforms in Qatar in 2020, for example, the obligation for migrant workers was abolished and a non-discriminatory minimum wage was introduced, Müller told

kreiszeitung.de

and was thus in line with the rulers in Qatar, who also recently used this reasoning to reject any allegations energetically rejected at the abuses.

Müller emphasized that the German construction industry attaches great importance to sustainable and social management.

A German subcontractor also

recently confirmed

to

focus.de

that high social and safety standards had been introduced for the care and accommodation of the migrant workers.

According to the unnamed manager, the deaths are said to have been "excessively exaggerated".

How many died in Qatar at the World Cup?

The number 6500 was often mentioned in connection with the deaths of the construction workers.

The figure first appeared in the British newspaper

The Guardian

.

However, the number has been incorrectly associated with "World Cup deaths".

Because the newspaper admitted that neither jobs nor employers of the deceased guest workers were known.

For years, Qatar has not collected and published any reliable data on the deaths and causes of deaths of guest workers.

It is therefore unclear how many guest workers really died for the World Cup in Qatar.

The trade union in Germany stands close to the employers.

The global trade union federation Building and Woodworkers' International (BWI) also warns against misrepresentation.

BHI boss Dieter Schäfer criticized the fact that there are no proper statistics for the deaths of guest workers in Qatar.

The cause of death could also be attributed to heat or other reasons, the former deputy head of IG Bau recently told

faz.net.

According to Schäfer, who claims to have spoken to 300 migrant workers in Qatar, the migrant workers on the World Cup construction sites "would be doing much better now".

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Human rights organization Amnesty maintains criticism of working conditions on Qatar construction sites

However, human rights organizations continue to encounter a lack of understanding for this view.

Amnesty International has repeatedly called for a boycott of the Qatar World Cup because of the intolerable conditions.

The organization had already documented the working conditions in Qatar in April 2022.

The report is available from

kreiszeitung.de

.

The employment relationships of those deployed were examined, among other things, during the construction of the World Cup in 2022, the FIFA Arab Club 2021 and the Arabian Gulf Cup in Qatar.

In all cases, those affected suffered from forced labor and abuse.

In the report Why FIFA and Quatar should remedy the 2022 World Cup

, Amnesty writes that workers were not properly remunerated for the excessive working hours, overtime was not paid and those affected were also exposed to dangerous working conditions such as heat and exhaustion .

There was also discrimination based on origin and language

.

Criticism of the World Cup in Qatar: Amnesty called for a boycott several times

Qatar has already introduced important reforms, but the reality is different.

Despite the reforms, employers have not been treated well, Amnesty clarifies and calls for consistent action to be taken in the event of violations of the law.

Unfortunately, no employer has ever been penalized for repeatedly violating the rules, the human rights organizations quoted an expert on the rights of migrant workers in the study entitled

Inventory 2021: One year until the FIFA World Cup 2022

.

In response to a letter addressed to FIFA, Amnesty only received the answer that FIFA would protect the workers and take responsibility for it.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-11-18

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