Rights
groups and news organizations have previously raised serious concerns
about working conditions in Qatar, but the latest Amnesty report stands
out because it links alleged mistreatment directly to work on a World
Cup venue.
The
group's findings will intensify pressure on Qatar to accelerate labor
reforms as the tiny and immensely rich Gulf country races to transform
itself with sweeping infrastructure projects ahead of the games.
Amnesty
compiled the 52-page report based on interviews from February to May
last year with 132 construction workers at the Khalifa International
Stadium, one of several arenas that will host World Cup matches. The
London-based group also interviewed 99 migrants doing landscaping work
in a surrounding sports complex that is not directly related to the
games, and three other gardeners working elsewhere.
Foreigners
account for roughly 90 percent of the 2.5 million people living in
Qatar, many of them low-paid migrant workers from South Asia. Most of
the workers interviewed in the Amnesty report were from Bangladesh,
India and Nepal.
All
of those interviewed reported some kind of abuse, including squalid or
crowded living quarters, salary payments being withheld for months, and
measures including passport confiscation that make it difficult to leave
the country. Migrant workers elsewhere in Qatar have reported similar
problems previously.
Many
in the Amnesty report said their sponsoring employer failed to obtain
or renew their working permits, leaving the workers subject to fines and
detention.
Each
reported going into debt to pay recruitment fees — illegal under Qatari
law — ranging from $500 to $4,300 to secure work. Most discovered on
arrival that they would be paid less than promised by recruiters back
home. Some of those interviewed reported earning basic salaries of well
below $200 a month, plus allowances of around $50 a month for food.
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