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The Khalifa International Stadium in Doha is one of the 2022 World Cup stadiums
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The organizers of the football World Cup in Qatar have admitted that workers were exploited in connection with the preparatory tournaments of the world association Fifa in the Gulf state.
The admission of neglect came after an Amnesty International investigation found that security forces were forced to work in what the organization described as "forced labour" because, among other things, workers worked more than 60 hours a week and went without a break for months or even years had day.
Qatar did not provide details on the abuses at the subcontractors who appear to have been working on the 2021 Club World Cup and Arab Cup.
Workers were apparently threatened with fines and even deportation
Qatar World Cup organizers said in a statement: “Three companies have been found to have breached a range of areas.
These breaches were totally unacceptable and led to a range of measures being taken, including the placing of contractors on a watch or blacklist, to prevent them from working on future projects - including the Fifa World Cup - before they could reported to the Department of Labor for further investigation and punitive action.”
Worker exploitation continues in Qatar, although World Cup organizers say they have been implementing measures to protect their health and safety since 2014 - four years after the World Cup was awarded.
"Many of the security forces we spoke to knew their employers were breaking the law but felt powerless to take action," said Stephen Cockburn of Amnesty International.
The workers, although physically and emotionally exhausted, kept reporting for work after being threatened with fines, dismissal or even deportation.
"Despite the progress Qatar has made in recent years, our research suggests that abuses in the private security sector, which will be increasingly in demand during the World Cup, remain systematic and structural," Cockburn said.
"Fifa needs to focus on doing more to prevent abuses in the inherently dangerous private security sector or else the tournament will be further marred by abuse."
Ever since the World Cup was awarded, Qatar has repeatedly been accused of exploiting migrant workers and other human rights violations.
However, the government has always denied the allegations, citing reforms.
In its report, Amnesty had again complained that the Qatari government was not making serious efforts to implement the reforms and laws that had been passed.
The soccer World Cup starts on November 21st and runs until December 18th.
In response to human rights violations, calls for a boycott have repeatedly been heard in recent months.
ara/AP