Migrant workers in Qatar

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Migrant workers in Qatar are people who do not have Qatari citizenship and who work in the Emirate of Qatar for a certain period of time . The working and living situation of these people is partly inhumane and they are exposed to repression. According to the UN, Qatar has the highest rate of migrant workers in the world, with 88% of the population being of foreign origin. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) assumed in 2013 and 2015 that 4,000 workers will die on the construction sites of this project by the FIFA World Cup in 2022 if the leadership of Qatar does not change the unbearable situation of migrant workers in Asia.

Labor market in Qatar

The resource-rich Gulf emirate of Qatar has too few workers in the service and construction industries . Of the 230,000 Qataris, 45,000 men and 25,000 women are active in working life. Most of them are employed by the Qatari state. In September 2011, during the Arab Spring , the salaries of all state employees were increased by 60 percent. Teachers start with a starting salary of 9,000 euros per month (2013).

Migrant workers carry out practically all manual work and all construction projects in the small state, including the construction of all World Cup stadiums for the 2022 World CupTemplate: future / in 2 years . Practical work is frowned upon in the culture of Qatar, which is shaped by the tradition as an emirate.

Countries of origin

Most of the migrant workers come from Nepal , Pakistan and India . Others come from countries in North and East Africa . Almost all of the men work in the construction sector, while many women work as domestic helpers and in the service sector in Qatar. There are around 1.6 million guest workers for every 230,000 local residents.

employer

The migrant workers in Qatar work for a number of construction consortia. The Guardian 2013 report made the Lusail Real Estate Development Company known, which is building stadiums and infrastructure for the championship on behalf of the organizing committee of the World Cup "Q22". The company denied the Guardian report, claiming it was providing subcontractors with instructions on how to properly deal with their workers.

The Essen-based construction group Hochtief is an important subcontractor of Qatari Diar and Lusail Real Estate Development Company . Hochtief describes the cooperation as a "unique opportunity to contribute their expertise and a wide range of construction services [...] from planning to execution in the main projects of the companies [...]"

Contract terms and wage policy

In no sector does Qatar have legal regulations regarding a minimum wage . There is also no criminal offense of immoral wages. The UN demanded such a minimum wage for all areas. Statutory health insurance does not exist and workers cannot pay for it privately.

The so-called Kafala system allows companies to forbid their employees from changing employers or leaving the country. Employers sometimes withdraw their employees' passports and only hand them over at the end of the contract. Local entrepreneurs pass guest workers on to other companies at will and do not have to obtain their consent. "Many workers often do not receive a wage for months and are still forced to work by threatening them with a complete loss of wages or deportation," said the Qatar expert from Amnesty International in Germany, Regina Spöttl der Zeit.

As a migrant worker from Nepal reported to journalists for the British Guardian , he was paid US $ 250 a month and was lured to Qatar with the promise of higher wages.

In response to international pressure, Qatar set up arbitration boards around 2017/18 and stipulated that a state support fund would have to step in if a company files for bankruptcy and therefore does not pay outstanding salaries. However, the positions are poorly staffed and after successful complaints, the money still has to be sued through civil law. According to Amnesty International, as of September 2019 none of the 1,620 complainants persecuted by Amnesty had received any money from the fund.

Occupational safety and deaths

In Qatar, around 200 workers from Nepal died in 2012 , many of heart failure after extremely long shifts in the summer heat or from serious accidents at work . The figures are similar for employees from India , Bangladesh and Sri Lanka . More than 1,000 workers were injured on the construction sites.

Between June 4 and August 8, 2013 alone, 44 guest workers perished , according to the Guardian , half of them due to heart failure or accidents at work caused by the brutal working conditions on the construction sites. According to research by the Guardian, workers on construction sites are sometimes denied water for drinking and cooling, as is food intake, with temperatures around 50 ° C in Qatar in the summer.

A 2019 study by cardiologists and climate researchers looked at the deaths of 1,300 Nepalese workers between 2009 and 2017 in connection with rising temperatures . Although young men typically have a low incidence of heart attacks , heart attacks were the cause of death in 571 cases. Many deaths could have been prevented with adequate heat protection measures.

In a special supplement to the Amnesty Journal (04–05 / 2014), citing information from the Indian embassy, ​​it is reported that more than 450 Indians died on Qatar's World Cup construction sites in 2012 and 2013. How many guest workers died in total cannot be precisely quantified, as no one on the local authorities recorded the deaths among migrant workers from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Philippines and other countries in Southeast Asia. The report also indicates that many migrant workers are waiting for their wages to be paid and therefore have to go begging for food. Migrant workers repeatedly report being beaten and kicked by their superiors. Due to the common practice of employers to keep the passports of migrant workers under lock and key, it is difficult for those affected to avoid this harassment by changing jobs.

Living situation

Most of the workers are housed in collective shelters outside Doha . The accommodations belong to their employers. Often up to 14 people live in one room. The hygienic conditions are often inadequate.

FIFA World Cup 2022

Buildings worth around 900 billion Qatari riyals (approx. 185 billion euros) will be built in Qatar by the 2022 World Cup . Mainly stadiums are being built, but also rails and roads, shopping malls and skyscrapers . These projects are carried out by construction groups from China , Saudi Arabia and Europe ( Hochtief and others).

As early as June 2012, the Building and Woodworkers International (BWI) launched the “Without Us” campaign together with the Global Unions on the occasion of the International Labor Conference . She pointed to migrant workers in various sectors, including construction. The BWI posted posters criticizing the lack of trade union rights and rights for migrant workers in Qatar. The BWI called for a campaign “No World Cup in 2022 without rights for migrant workers” . She asked all union members and allies to join the campaign and fill all seats in Al-Rayyan Stadium in Doha.

The United Nations called for Qatar on 10 November 2013 with a view to the World Cup 2022, the situation of migrant workers to improve. "Many immigrants have human rights violated in their workplaces, some do not receive their wages or are paid less than agreed," said the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants, François Crépeau .

On November 17, 2013, the human rights organization Amnesty International reported systematic exploitation of guest workers in the construction industry and cases of forced labor following an investigation into working conditions in Qatar . Amnesty submitted a 153-page report on this. An international petition was also launched to those responsible in Qatar.

Reactions in Germany

Above all, the German Trade Union Federation (DGB) made in Germany aware of the conditions, to be built on what World Cup stadiums in Qatar. His chairman Michael Sommer attacked the world football association FIFA and the World Cup host Qatar in all sharpness and urged his union colleagues to influence the national football associations.

“It cannot be that the World Cup takes place in a country that treats its workers like slaves. In 2011, FIFA rushed to award the World Cup to Qatar. The decision was made on an obviously questionable basis, ” wrote Sommer in a letter to trade union associations in countries with a seat on the FIFA Executive Committee . The DGB boss refers to the support of Wolfgang Niersbach , the then President of the German Football Association (DFB), and urges his colleagues to act. "I ask you to contact your national football association to inform about these inhumane conditions and to initiate a stronger commitment to withdraw Qatar from this World Cup if effective measures are not taken immediately to end the exploitation," wrote Sommer.

DFB and DGB want to ensure that the minimum standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO) also apply in Qatar in the future . Fifa should take care of that. The standards of the ILO include the elimination of discrimination and forced labor and the approval of trade unions .

According to media reports, Amnesty International Germany also dealt with the situation of the migrant workers in Qatar and asked FIFA to hold talks with the government of Qatar in order to improve the situation of the workers.

At the beginning of June 2014, Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier asked Qatar to improve working conditions for workers on construction sites. He visited the Gulf state and emphasized that he would follow further developments on the many construction sites in the country with interest. The representatives of the construction industry who traveled with them did not make any public statements.

Reactions from Qatar

Specifically, the two associations want to ensure that the minimum standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO) also apply in Qatar in the future. Fifa should take care of that. This includes, for example, the elimination of discrimination and forced labor as well as the approval of trade unions.

The organizing committee (OC) of the World Cup in Qatar defended itself against the allegations in early November 2013 and said that there was considerable progress on the construction sites, which was not mentioned in the media reports. A workers' charter had been adopted and the development of “standards to which all contracting parties must commit” was about to be completed. Qatar is in constant contact with human rights organizations.

An end to the controversial Kafala system was announced, and implementation was still pending in September 2018.

Reactions from FIFA

Following the Guardian's September 2013 report, FIFA announced that it would seek clarification from the authorities in Qatar. In addition, the Guardian's reports would be discussed as an item on the agenda of the FIFA Executive Committee meeting on October 3-4, 2013. As a result of the meeting, FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced that FIFA would “not turn a blind eye” , but also stated that “the responsibility for labor rights lies with the company” . He made Qatar an obligation to intervene.

Sepp Blatter quickly put FIFA's commitment into perspective again by stating: “In every country in the world, fatal incidents can occur on construction sites, especially on World Cup construction sites.” Regarding a possible withdrawal from the World Cup, he said: “We wanted to Qatar, and we're going to do it. "

Web links

Commons : Soccer World Cup 2022  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b UN criticize the situation in Qatar ( Memento from November 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) on Tagesschau.de
  2. ^ Deaths and forced labor on World Cup construction sites in Qatar
  3. ^ Desirée Linde: Thousands of dead on World Cup construction sites. The tribute of Qatar. In: Handelsblatt . March 19, 2015, accessed June 3, 2015 .
  4. ^ A b c Martin Gehlen: World Cup in Qatar: The forced laborers for the super rich. In: Zeit Online. October 7, 2013, accessed June 3, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Qatar World Cup 'slaves': the official response. In: The Guardian. September 25, 2013, accessed June 3, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Lusail Hochtief QSC. Hochtief , archived from the original on November 11, 2013 ; Retrieved June 3, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Football World Cup 2022: Amnesty denounces the exploitation of World Cup workers in Qatar. In: Zeit Online. November 17, 2013, accessed June 3, 2015 .
  8. ↑ a b Pete Pattison: Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves'. In: The Guardian . September 25, 2013, accessed September 27, 2013 .
  9. ↑ World Cup host Qatar broke promises to treat guest workers better. In: derstandard.at . September 19, 2019, accessed October 11, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Annie Kelly, Niamh McIntyre, Pete Pattisson: Revealed: Hundreds of migrant workers dying of heat stress in Qatar each year. In: The Guardian . October 2, 2019, accessed October 11, 2019 .
  11. ↑ a b c Ramin M. Nowzad: Blood and Games. In: Football and Human Rights, editorial supplement to the Amnesty Journal 04-05 / 2014. Amnesty International, Germany, April 2014, p. 26 , accessed April 6, 2014 .
  12. ^ Prisoners in a foreign country In: Tagesschau.de ( Memento from September 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Peter Hossli: Qatar is building for the World Cup: 4000 workers will die by the kick-off. In: Blick.ch . November 24, 2013, accessed June 3, 2015 .
  14. ↑ Occupied a seat in Al-Rayyan Stadium in Doha, Qatar, in favor of the rights of migrant workers in Qatar. (No longer available online.) International Construction and Woodworkers, October 11, 2012, archived from the original on April 2, 2015 ; Retrieved June 3, 2015 .
  15. ↑ Criticism of Qatar: Amnesty laments conditions on World Cup construction sites. In: Spiegel Online . November 17, 2013, accessed November 18, 2013 .
  16. ↑ Amnesty shocked by World Cup slave labor in Qatar. In: The world . November 18, 2013, accessed November 18, 2013 .
  17. ↑ Football World Cup 2022 in Qatar: Stop the exploitation of migrant workers! Amnesty International , November 17, 2013, accessed November 18, 2013 .
  18. ↑ Stop the abuse of migrant workers in Qatar. (No longer available online.) Amnesty International , Nov 17, 2013, archived from the original on Nov 20, 2013 ; Retrieved November 18, 2013 .
  19. ^ Markus Bickel: World Cup construction sites in Qatar Amnesty: Alarming extent of exploitation ; on November 18, 2013 in the FAZ
  20. ↑ Steinmeier calls for better working conditions in Qatar. In: WDR2. June 1, 2014, archived from the original on April 2, 2015 ; Retrieved June 3, 2015 .
  21. ↑ DGB boss Sommer on World Cup construction sites Qatar treats workers "like slaves". In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . November 1, 2013, accessed June 3, 2015 .
  22. ↑ Football World Cup: Amnesty again points to untenable conditions in Qatar. In: derstandard.at . September 26, 2018, accessed October 11, 2019 .
  23. ↑ DFB and DGB mobilize against Qatar. In: Zeit Online. October 31, 2013, accessed June 3, 2015 .