How Qatar built stadiums with forced labor

This is where the FIFA World Cup final will soon be held... Qatar's Lusail Stadium. In just four years, he went from this... to this. It has 80,000 seats... and cost more than $700 million to build. It is the largest stadium in the Middle East. But it is more than that. More than a decade ago, Qatar hoped that hosting a mega sporting event in

stadiums

like these would put it on the map. But today,

stadiums

like Lusail are a symbol of how a country can build vast infrastructure to promote its own interests and how those ambitions can ensnare thousands of people. "...immigrant workers lost their lives in the construction of stadiums..." "...

forced

to work in extremely poor conditions..." "Immigrants working on infrastructure projects have died or suffered abuse ". "The logical source of oil for Europe is the Middle East..." Since the 1940s, when Qatar discovered enormous reserves of oil and then gas, it has been one of the richest countries on Earth. 70% of government revenue comes from oil and gas exports.

Thanks to all that wealth, Qatar has undergone a remarkable transformation. The capital, Doha, for example, went from a fishing village... to a world-class city in just a couple of decades, with extraordinary museums and luxurious hotels. But in recent years, the world has turned to renewable energy, making the oil and gas market that Qatar depends on even less reliable. And in the Gulf, the country has seen regional tensions rise, most notably in 2017, when neighboring countries issued a blockade against Qatar... cutting off trade and travel. It cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars. So, to diversify and protect its economy...

Qatar has begun to lean into another area that helped establish its status as a wealthy nation... sports. That repositioning is based on soft power. Qatar is trying to get friends when it needs them. Particularly powerful friends of the West like the United States and the United Kingdom. And so the best way to do that is through these soft sectors like sports. In the last 18 years, Qatar has held more than 20 major sporting events. But nothing compares to the 2022 World Cup. "The winner is... Qatar." Qatar won the rights to host the World Cup in 2010. "Today we celebrate, but tomorrow... the work begins." He had made an unbeatable promise to FIFA.

He would spend more money than any host had ever spent before. 200 billion dollars. And he complied. Since then, Qatar has

built

8 stadiums. It has

built

dozens of hotels and laid miles of roads and subway lines to connect all that infrastructure. They've even completed a whole new city with golf courses, marinas, and a theme park. It can boast of being the first country in the Middle East to have organized a mega sporting event. To be able to do that, you have many partners, including FIFA itself and all the famous ambassadors who vouch for Qatar having these incredible world-class stadiums, these sparkling, shiny hotels.

You can come to Doha and feel confident that you are experiencing a business, modern and advanced world. While the spotlight was supposed to show Qatar as a shining example of development... it also exposed one of its darkest secrets. To fuel decades of development, Qatar has relied on a steady supply of low-paid, temporary workers, mainly from South Asia and East Africa. Since the early 2000s, so many foreigners have come to work in Qatar that they now make up 80% of the total population. They build, clean, service and staff virtually every industry. When we think about how the recruitment process for migrant workers begins, we think about workers who find themselves in extremely low-wage situations.

So they are looking for a place where they can emigrate... that allows them some upward socioeconomic mobility. And Qatar promises them that mobility. Typically, Qatari companies hire international recruitment agencies that find workers to send. They promise these workers high-paying jobs in exchange for illegal upfront hiring fees. They also make workers pay for medical tests, passports, flights, visas... everything to get the work contract. Workers often take out loans in their home countries to pay agencies that incur significant debts. It's a huge transnational...cross-border...operation that completely screws the workers at the beginning of their journey. Workers often use their families' savings to pay for a job in one of the richest countries per capita in the world.

They often arrive in Qatar to find that they are not getting the promised job and salary and there is nothing they can do about it... because they have now entered the country's kafala system. It is an exceptionally restrictive immigration system that can take different forms in different industries. But they all have something crucial in common. Kafala legally links the immigrant's immigration status to his or her employer. Meaning that an individual employer has to sponsor his worker, which gives him an inordinate amount of power over him. They can control when their employees' work ends or if they can change jobs.

They can control if and when immigrants leave the country. Often confiscating their passports. And they can also control the worker's ability to renew their residence and work permit. But beyond restrictions on immigrants' freedom of movement, the system also traps them in a cycle of abuse. And that became evident when Qatar began to prepare for the World Cup. To deliver the infrastructure Qatar promised, it took advantage of its migration channel and recruited hundreds of thousands of new workers. When Qatar was awarded the World Cup in 2010...everyone involved in the decision-making knew that the World Cup would be built on the basis of the kafala system.

Thousands of migrants became construction workers to build stadiums like Lusail, which became the scene of human rights abuses ranging from verbal abuse to death. Several investigations into Qatar's stadiums revealed that employers often house workers in private camps far from city centers... where they are

forced

to live in overcrowded rooms and unsanitary conditions. And at work, their lives are in danger. Migrant workers often perform the most dangerous jobs on site and can be forced to work up to 14 hours a day in Qatar's extreme heat. On the day this photo of Lusail Stadium was taken, the maximum temperature in Doha reached 109 degrees Fahrenheit.

They've spent so many hours under the scorching sun... and then they're only allowed a five-minute break to eat and they eat standing up and then they come back. As long as you're also on scaffolding, going down to use the bathroom could get you in trouble with your boss. And so you end up drinking less water despite the need to have it to avoid heat exhaustion. The number of work-related migrant deaths around stadiums remains unclear due to Qatar's lack of transparency. In fact, that is the case for the entire kafala system. But there have been some clues along the way.

Death certificates that Nepal received along with bodies sent from Qatar show that nearly 120 Nepalese migrants have died at work since 2008. However, the real number is likely much higher. In 2019, a study examined the link between deaths of Nepalese workers and heat exposure and concluded that heatstroke was a likely cause of cardiovascular deaths. That alone could raise the death toll of Nepali migrant workers to around 600. In addition to living and working in abusive conditions, many are also unpaid for their work. Workers have repeatedly faced wage theft. So the debt continues to accumulate because it still exists and in many cases the workers have not yet been able to survive on a daily basis.

This is one of the richest countries in the world and yet they have failed to accelerate their reforms and ensure people receive their payments on time. Some workers attempt to file complaints, only to discover that there are few effective mechanisms. And speaking openly carries the risk of retaliation... which has kept migrants isolated in the kafala system with increasing debt and unable to access justice. After years of mounting pressure from human rights organizations and a formal complaint reaching the UN's International Labor Organization... in 2017, Qatar signed an agreement promising to align its

labor

laws and practices with international standards.

In 2020, 10 years after construction for the World Cup began, Qatar implemented a minimum wage for workers and now allows them to terminate their employment contract. But... The challenge with minimum wage laws is their enforcement. Employers began to react against the government. And so, although we have not seen amendments to the legislation. In fact, we are seeing a weakening of the reforms. And for immigrants who have already been abused by the kafala system. All this is too late. Civil rights groups and football associations are now calling for a reparation fund to financially compensate migrant workers. And some teams have taken a stance on the field... and on social media. "We have learned that the decision to host the World Cup in Qatar, which resulted in the suffering and harm of countless of our co-workers..." Making this year's World Cup particularly difficult to watch.

Millions of football fans will continue to tune in and cheer on their favorite teams. But after the final match is over... and the trophy is awarded... stadiums like Lusail will remain a grim reminder that it all came at a human cost.