Bide Majakoti knows the horror of forced labor in Qatar first-hand. He travelled from Nepal on the promise of a well-paid job and paid high recruitment fees to secure it. When he arrived he was forced to accept a different job and his nightmare began.
Unfortunately, as construction for the football World Cup 2022 intensifies, more migrant workers will be vulnerable to forced labor than ever before.
Over 90% of Qatar’s workforce are migrant workers, brought to the country under kafala, the ‘sponsorship’ system.1 It is a foreign worker sponsorship programme that jeopardises basic human rights of migrant workers, allowing slavery-like conditions to flourish leaving thousands vulnerable to forced labor and other human rights abuses.
Bide was forced to work in the blistering heat without safety precautions or pay. With no other option open to him, he returned home saddled with debt. While Bide ultimately returned home to tell his story, thousands of others never get that chance.
Many others’ experiences are even worse; workers often have their wages withheld, are denied exit visas, are housed in dirty, unsafe conditions and forced to work long hours with little rest despite the high heat.2
Right now we have an opportunity to help. The Minister of Labor made promises to make substantial reform to the kafala system, ensuring the protection of migrant workers.3 Now, the deadline for these reforms has passed.
We’ve seen significant improvements to the kafala system in Bahrain, Kuwait and other neighboring countries. Now it’s time for Qatar to safeguard its migrant workers.
Call on the Minister of Labor to deliver on critical reforms he promised and end the forced labor in Qatar.
Watch ‘Undercover film of life inside Qatar’s labor camps’ by Equal Times
Joel J.,
Rick T.,
HASAN A.,
Nadia V.,
M T.,
Edward K.,
Abdullah H.,
Ban FIFA 2022!
HUMAN RIGHTS in full for all workers. Shame on Qatar!
Anand Giridharadas quotes Michael Porter in ‘Winners Take All.’ “We sort of created a cartoon…if you can force your employee to work overtime without paying them, then you should do it—that’s free markets(sic), and that’s profit maximization.” It’s also fascism, which T. Douglas said: destroys political democracy “in order to retain its power of exploitation and special privilege.”
I would like to see the fans boycott the world Cup on mass, and leave the owners and contractors who employ these unfortunate tradesmen with an empty stadium and an absolutely crippling debt.
If this is the way that Qatar treats the people who build its country, they are not the world beating people they want us to believe.
They are marching straight back to the stone age, with their eyes firmly closed.
Visit Qatar and take a selfie with the slaves. “How’s that for a holiday slogan”.
Force slavery is against the humanity hence it must be end at earlier stage in Qatar
Dear Madam, I don’t agree with you at all. I am a resident of Qatar since 1980 and as a working mother, I have come across all categories of people and have to differ with you. Qatar takes very good care of all it’s residents and has got nearly every facility provided free or at highly subsidised cost. There may be a few exceptions like in another country. There are some expatriates who are scared of losing jobs and hence concealing all their problems and there are some individuals who are bullies and like to exploit the people under them.… Read more »
You know nothing of the facts of rampant slavery in Qatar. Even if you live there til your death, you will continue to have your eyes tightly shut to the rampant suffering of these poor workers. Shame on you. You have zero compassion and you lie about the truth.