More Than Just a Game

by: Sylvia Kathirkamanathan

The FIFA World Cup 2022 was an event that garnered the attention of millions of people around the world to show their national pride, celebrate their love for soccer, or even just wait to see the Brazilian team do their signature post-goal dance. These games brought people and societies together to bond over a common interest, which is a beautiful thing. Yet, what goes overlooked is the human cost behind these games, especially the impact on migrant workers who constructed the facilities. FIFA and the Qatari government’s ignorance and abuse of migrant workers for the sake of the World Cup are inexcusable and needs great action to make things right.

Labour exploitation has been a major issue in Qatar for over a decade before the country was announced as the host of the World Cup, primarily due to the kafala system. The kafala system is a legal framework found in Gulf Cooperation Council countries such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar to define foreign labourer-to-employer relations. In this system, local or company employers can sponsor foreign labourers and cover the cost of travel and housing for them to work. Many of the executions of this framework are under the jurisdiction of interior ministries as opposed to labour ministries, thus the labourers are not protected by the labour laws of the country they enter for work. This allows sponsors to exploit labourers since they are in control of whether these labourers can renew their employment or residency visas. Because of this power imbalance, employers can leverage the amount and timing for workers’ payments, working conditions, and other factors.

In November 2017, the government of Qatar signed the United Nations International Labor Organization agreement, which was an agreement to target labour exploitation to match international standards of labour laws and promote labour reform. The goal of the agreement was to deconstruct the kafala system, advocate for worker, promote workplace health and safety, and reform the pay and recruitment processes. Some improvements made since then include passing domestic worker laws, hiring labour dispute committees, and implementing worker insurance. They also abolished the exit permit, allowing migrant workers to leave Qatar without the needing employer permission, and the no-objection certificate, which allows migrant workers to get a new job with minimum wage without fear of punishment from former employers. Despite this is progress on paper, poor law enforcement and implementation are at the root of the issue and are the reasons why thousands of migrant and domestic workers continue to be exploited and abused.

After Qatar was announced to be the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the Qatari government spent around $300 billion to turn the capital city of Doha into a prime location for the games and the tourism to come, requiring millions of migrant workers over the last 12 years. Notably, Qatar’s population increased by roughly 40% after the World Cup was announced because of the demand for construction workers to set up for these games. Migrant workers were forced to work unethically long hours, in dangerous working environments, and while enduring prolonged heat exposure, putting them at risk of falling ill and being injured in accidents. It is reported that they were threatened for taking breaks, housed in inhumane conditions, not given medical care, and not given nutritious food. Because of this, it is estimated that 400 to 500 workers died in the construction process, with human rights organizations estimating numbers in the thousands. This also resulted in many migrant workers needing to return home to tend to their conditions from working in Qatar. The Qatari government failed to properly investigate these deaths and conditions by mislabelling them as natural deaths or simply cardiac issues, preventing their families from seeking compensation for work-related death or injuries.

In the wake of the FIFA World Cup, close to 20,000 workers were hired by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for workingtosetupthegamesinadditionto the migrant workers in June 2020. This committee was supposed to ensure stricter labour standards and protection via the Workers Welfare Standards for ethical recruitment, payment, and abolishment of forced labour to improve workers’ working and living conditions. Again, poor enforcement resulted in the company failing to pay salaries for several months of labour by Qatar Meta Boats, failure to review resistance permits, and such forth, thus feeding into the abuse of migrant workers crisis in Qatar.

FIFA claims that they were unaware of the concerns with Qatar Meta Coats until May 2020 due to a lack of routine notification on these cases and that they trusted the Supreme Committee to support workers’ rights. This shows FIFA’s habit of overlooking human rights and migrant worker abuse in order to execute these international games. Unless FIFA takes responsibility and issues a system to monitor FIFA-related labour in order to enforce labour standards in the host countries they select, migrant worker abuse such as that in Qatar will continue to go on, and such issues will continue to go unnoticed and buried by their international audience for the sake of money and publicity.

After immense global backlash against the Qatari government and FIFA for the treatment of migrant workers, the European Parliament voted to make FIFA compensate the families of the deceased migrant workers from the World Cup building process. Additionally, Human Rights Watch demands at least $440 million for the migrant workers’ families for FIFA, which is the prize money for winning the World Cup.

It is actions, or lack of actions, like this that show what corporations and people are willing to overlook and excuse for the sake of profit. FIFA clearly values the revenue and fame garnered by the World Cup over ensuring those putting their lives at risk to bring these games to fruition are protected. Their claims of ignorance are unbelievable considering how large and resource-rich the company is. By choosing Qatar as a hosting country, FIFA must have either known about the history of migrant worker abuse in the country and chose to ignore it or should have ensured workers involved in building the World Cup games were not exploited. It shows a lack of morals and humanity from FIFA and the Qatari government. The Qatari government's kafala system reform work is nothing more than performative; policy and laws without enforcement are just words and that is something these migrant worker abusers know and continue to practice.

I have grown up watching the FIFAWorld Cup every four years with friends and family. I found immense joy in keeping up with these games and feeling connected to people around the world over a shared interest. After learning about how FIFA and the Qatari government treat migrant workers, I am inclined to boycott the World Cup and would hope others feel the same way. FIFA needs to get involved in the treatment of workers for their games if they are going to yield the decision of what countries will host the games. It is not as simple as passing a baton to a government and having fingers crossed that they get it done ethically. We need to hold corporations like FIFA accountable for their decisions and lack of actions if they are going to continue to host their games and have such a massive international impact.