More Than 900 Workers Have Already Died Building Qatar’s World Cup Infrastructure

[Joe Shlabotnik]

The International Trade Union Confederation says that if conditions don’t improve, at least 4,000 migrants will die before kick-off

In 2022, Qatar will host the World Cup. The host city has already made some waves with its stadium shaped like a certain body part. But what you might not know is that, since 2012, about 900 workers have died while working on infrastructure in Qatar, in a building boom anticipating the World Cup.

Last month, the Guardian reported that over 400 Nepalese migrant workers had already died at building sites. Between 2010 and 2012 more than 700 workers from India lost their lives working on construction sites in Qatar, too. A report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) says that if conditions don’t get any better, by the time the World Cup kicks off, at least 4,000 migrant workers will have died on the job.

For comparison, 25 construction workers died during the preparations for Sochi. Only six workers have died during construction for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil that starts this summer. Only eleven men died during the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in the 1930s. By all measures, the death count in Qatar is extreme.

Robert Booth at the Guardian explains why Qatar is so unusual:

Workers described forced labour in 50C (122F) heat, employers who retain salaries for several months and passports making it impossible for them to leave and being denied free drinking water. The investigation found sickness is endemic among workers living in overcrowded and insanitary conditions and hunger has been reported. Thirty Nepalese construction workers took refuge in the their country's embassy and subsequently left the country, after they claimed they received no pay.

According to the ITUC, there are already 1.2 million migrant workers in Qatar, and about a million more will probably pour into the country to help with construction. These are essentially slaves, Sharan Burrow from the ITUC told Booth. “Fifa needs to send a very strong and clear message to Qatar that it will not allow the World Cup to be delivered on the back of a system of modern slavery that is the reality for hundreds of thousands of migrant workers there today," she said.

from: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/over-900-workers-have-already-died-building-qatars-world-cup-facilities-180950088/

900! 4000! Staging these international spectacles has become obscene.

[Codeine]

1. I'm a huge fan of The Beautiful Game,

but this is just obscene. FIFA needs to tell Qatar to get fucked and move the competition to another country -- with that long a lead time there are probably 20+ countries that could pull it off easily.

Unfortunately the only organizations more corrupt than FIFA are a handful of drug cartels and the Russian mob. Nothing will change and it'll be all happy noises come 2022.

[sabrina 1]

2. Shhhh, Qatar is one of our closest allies. They own Al Jazeera btw. However, to give credit where it

is due, until the Libya debacle, throughout the Bush occupation, they did not interfere with the journalists who risked their lives telling the truth when they saw it.

Which only goes to show that just because an oppressive Government funds a media outlet, it doesn't always mean the reporters are not reporting the facts.

This is shameful, and the correct response from the US should be to condemn these human rights abuses.

But we are selective in our condemnations. So I won't hold out too much hope.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

3. I hope this summer

when the Favels in Brazil erupt, and the media are unable to sweep it under the rug, perhaps someone will start to question the true, human and social costs involved. Sadly I expect corporate white wash, and blame assigned to a 'ragtag group of disgruntled anarchists'.

[theHandpuppet]

4. Yep, there will be no condemnations

Qatar has oil and plenty of it. 'Nuff said.

[sabrina 1]

7. No, hardly a whisper, even here. Just change the name of the country though, one that isn't as

cooperative, and just imagine how important those 900 people would be!

Sick to death of the hypocrisy, frankly.

[theHandpuppet]

5. To make matters even worse for the Nepalese...

http://www.ekantipur.com/2014/03/19/headlines/In-oil-rich-Qatar-Nepali-mission-runs-out-of-money-to-buy-fuel/386933/
In oil-rich Qatar, Nepali mission runs out of money to buy fuel

DOHA, MAR 19 - While the recent government decision to hike the fuel price has courted a widespread public outcry in the country, the Nepali Embassy in Qatar is also grappling with an oil related problem of late: the mission in the petroleum–rich Arab state does not have sufficient funds to fuel its vehicles.

As a result, the officials reached the embassy nearly three hours late on Monday. They were driven to the office on a private car owned by a local official, as the embassy-owned vehicles had run out of petrol...

...The embassy staffers do not even receive food allowance. They work from 8 in the morning till late in the evening. And the workload is staggering, so much so that they rarely have time to go out on lunch break.

The Nepali mission is also reeling under logistical and human resources shortfall.... MORE

[Democracyinkind]

6. So what? 900, 4000, it sounds like a fair price for the bribes that Sepp Blatter collected for...

... letting Qatar host the games. Plus, Qataris are "good Arabs", not of the bad lot that we must constantly bomb into submission. I say doubleplusgood for them and for us (US?)...

Yes, this is sarcasm. But make no mistake - it reflects the attitudes of the people that made this tragedy happen.

[geek tragedy]

8. Obscene choice to hold it there. Great job, FIFA nt

[bullwinkle428]

9. They'll make more of a big deal about some of the rich spectators

experiencing heat exhaustion at the actual event than all of the workers that actually died building all of this infrastructure.