IIn the early morning hours of Saturday, November 30, FIFA issued a glowing review of Saudi Arabia's bid for the 2034 World Cup, giving it the highest score of all bid nations and declaring that the human rights risk remains “moderate.”
At the same time, it quietly released a long-awaited report on whether migrant workers who suffered severe labor abuses on projects related to the Qatar 2022 World Cup should be compensated. Despite being advised to do so by its own sub-committee on human rights and social responsibility, FIFA's answer was, in effect: A firm no.
The report sparked a backlash from human rights groups, with the former saying:amazing whitewash” and the latter “insulting”“This uncompromising language reflects frustration within human rights groups that FIFA has learned nothing from Qatar, and a belief that the gross exploitation of cheap labor is about to be repeated.
time guardian In 2013, it first exposed the dire conditions endured by low-wage migrant workers in Qatar, sparking an international outcry. Hundreds of thousands of men from the world's poorest regions were toiling in the scorching desert heat to build infrastructure and stadiums for the 2022 World Cup.
Workers' testimonies describe abuses they faced, including passport confiscation, late or non-payment of wages, inhumane living conditions, and a “sponsorship system” that meant they could not change jobs no matter how well they were treated. revealed a number of
Thousands of people died in the 10 years leading up to the Games. Many believed this was a form of modern-day slavery in football. Now it's the turn of Qatar's larger and more arrogant neighbor, Saudi Arabia. among them World cup bidthe Gulf kingdom has launched ambitious plans for 11 new stadiums, Qatar will build seven, a major expansion of transport infrastructure and more than 185,000 new hotel rooms, four times the current number. did.
Like Qatar, Saudi Arabia's World Cup infrastructure will be built primarily by migrant workers from South Asia. There are more than 13 million foreigners in the country, with at least 2 million in Bangladesh alone, and that number is expected to soar as construction related to the tournament progresses.
Human rights groups have been warning of the risks they face for more than a year, and last month Amnesty International Ask to stop the bidding process Unless major reforms are implemented, “immigrant workers will face exploitation and many will die.”
These warnings have already proven prescient. Last month it emerged that Bangladeshi workers building the first proposed new stadium for the World Cup allege they are being subjected to serious labor rights violations. Trapped in huge recruitment debts and with their meager wages garnished for months, they toil through 10-hour shifts in the scorching summer heat, spending their days in filthy, overcrowded rooms resembling prison cells. Just go back to.
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Early this year, guardian Studies show that an average of four Bangladeshis die every day in Saudi Arabia, but these deaths are largely uninvestigated and unaccounted for.
Saudi authorities and FIFA admit there is work to be done to improve the treatment of migrant workers, but insist, as in Qatar, that the World Cup will be a catalyst for change.
This is not a view shared by workers still in Qatar. “The lives of the workers here have not improved in any way,” said one.
“People are struggling to find work and many don't even have money to eat. After the World Cup, every day is worse than the day before.”
