FIFA asked to pressure Qatar over World Cup working conditions for migrants

A migrant worker in Qatar on World Cup stadium construction.

Workers from Nepal helping to build stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar aren’t allowed to return home to attend funerals or visit loved ones devastated by recent earthquakes in the Himalayas.

That’s not all. Conditions for migrant workers in Qatar are being called exploitive and abusive.

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Nepal’s labor minister is not happy and wants FIFA and its sponsors to pressure the government in Qatar for a more humane response.

“… While workers in some sectors of the economy have been given this, those on World Cup construction sites are not being allowed to leave because of the pressure to complete projects on time,” Tek Bahadur Gurung told the Guardian. “They have lost relatives and their homes and are enduring very difficult conditions in Qatar. This is adding to their suffering.”

The report said about 400,000 World Cup construction workers are from Nepal.

Last month, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 killed an estimated 8,000 people in Nepal.

FIFA has yet to respond to the request.  

Amnesty International reported last week that Qatar’s committee overseeing World  Cup construction permitted more than 500 Nepalese workers to return home temporarily.

Gurung told the Guardian said it’s not enough.

"There are far more than 500 Nepalese working on different World Cup construction sites, I can assure you. We have even offered to pay the air fare home for all our people building stadiums and involved in other projects, where companies are not willing, but not even this has made a difference. Our embassy in Doha has been inundated with requests for help from World Cup workers who are not allowed to leave.”

The Amnesty report also said Qatar has failed to improve conditions for workers, who "may go for several months without pay” among other indignities.

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