Qatar World Cup: 185 Nepalese died in 2013 – official records

[oldironside]

The extent of the risks faced by migrant construction workers building the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been laid bare by official documents revealing that 185 Nepalese men died last year alone.

The 2013 death toll, which is expected to rise as new cases come to light, is likely to spark fresh concern over the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar and increase the pressure on Fifa to force meaningful change. According to the documents the total number of verified deaths among workers from Nepal – just one of several countries that supply hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to the gas-rich state – is now at least 382 in two years alone. At least 36 of those deaths were registered in the weeks following the global outcry after the Guardian's original revelations in September.

The revelations forced Fifa's president, Sepp Blatter, to promise that football would not turn a blind eye to the issue following a stormy executive committee meeting. Qatar's ministry of labour hired law firm DLA Piper to conduct an urgent review and Hassan al-Thawadi, chief executive of the World Cup organising committee, said the findings would be treated with the utmost seriousness, vowing that the tournament would not be built "on the blood of innocents". The DLA Piper report is expected to be published in the coming weeks.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/24/qatar-2022-world-cup-185-nepalese-workers-died-2013

Much as I love the beautiful game, the World Cup is not worth the bones of a single Nepalese migrant worker. Mr Blatter? You've got blood on your hands.

[Codeine]

1. Blatter and every corrupt, bribe-taking member of FIFA's board.

Putting the WC in Qatar was the most blatantly perfidious sporting decision I've ever seen.

[truebrit71]

4. I agree wholeheartedly...

...there was no reason for the WC to be awarded except for shiploads of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Ron Obvious]

2. I think we're up to 500 now...

400 in yesterday's Guardian, 500 this morning.

No words.

[oldironside]

3. It really can't go on like this.

There was a story in Der Welt am Sonntag last weekend that an unnamed FIFA official had said they were seriously considering taking the World Cup away from Qatar.

http://www.welt.de/sport/fussball/article124882782/Katar-die-WM-wegzunehmen-ist-ernsthafte-Option.html

I haven't seen it reported anywhere else, and it would open some serious cans of worms. For example, I can see the Qataris saying something along the lines of: "We paid some world class bribes for this, and we want them back." That would seriously break Sepp Blatter's heart.

On the other hand, there are at least four European nations that could take it over at a moment's (much less eight years) notice: Germany, England, Italy, and France already have the stadia in place.

It wouldn't solve the long term problem of migrant workers being treated like slaves, but it would deny them the fig leaf of respectablity they so desperately crave, along with the West's tacit approval.

[rehabanderson]

5. in my opinion

qatar should not organize the world cup in 2022

[gopiscrap]

6. welcome to DU

[oldironside]

8. And more reasons to strip them of the world's greatest sporting tournament.

Foreign maids, cleaners and other domestic workers are being subjected to slave-like labour conditions in Qatar, with many complaining they have been deprived of passports, wages, days off, holidays and freedom to move jobs, a Guardian investigation can reveal.

Hundreds of Filipino maids have fled to their embassy in recent months because conditions are so harsh. Many complain of physical and sexual abuse, harassment, long periods without pay and the confiscation of mobile phones.

The exploitation raises further concerns about labour practices in Qatar in advance of the World Cup, after Guardian reports about the treatment of construction workers. The maids are not directly connected to Qatar's preparations for the football tournament, but domestic workers will play a big role in staffing the hotels, stadiums and other infrastructure that will underpin the 2022 tournament.

Our investigation reveals:

• The Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) sheltered more than 600 runaway maids in the first six months of 2013 alone.

• Some workers say they have not been paid for months.

• Many housemaids do not get days off.

• Some contracts and job descriptions are changed once the workers arrive in Qatar.

• Women who report a sexual assault can be charged with illicit relations.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/feb/26/qatar-foreign-workers-slave-conditions