“It’s not called the World Cup, it's called the FIFA World Cup. So of all the actors who have been involved in this issue, concerned about workers rights, my feeling is that they have been the least active, the least effective.”
- Pete Pattisson
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Location: Skype
Date: Thursday, Nov 7th 2019
Role: Journalist
With Qatar's successful 2022 World Cup bid there were allegations of corruption and bribery during the bidding process. There were also concerns as to whether the Gulf state was a good fit for the world's largest sporting competition due to its stance on the LGBTQ+ community, the lack of infrastructure and playing conditions as summer temperatures often exceed 50°C.
Concerns regarding the temperature were so severe that FIFA took the unprecedented step to move the date of the competition to the winter. Sepp Blatter, who was president at the time of the successful bid, has since publicly stated that choosing Qatar as the host was a 'mistake'.
At the time of the bid, Qatar did not have the infrastructure required to host the competition. As the wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita, Qatar planned to build 12 brand new stadiums (this number has since dropped to 8) as well as undertaking a significant infrastructure programme; developing the airport, hotels, roads and hospitals.
With such a massive project and a relatively small population, Qatar relies on a large migrant workforce. Most workers are from Nepal, India, Bangladesh or the Philippines, and they are known to pay up to $5000 to 'agents' in their home country to secure jobs. Once they arrive in the country, abuse is rife. In many cases, they have their passports taken, offered inhumane living conditions, paid below the minimum wage (roughly $200/month) and regularly paid late, if at all.
Workers face long days in sweltering temperatures, and there is a high death rate. The Qatari government has taken steps to reduce outside work during the hottest hours of the day, yet the number of people dying from heat stress is believed to be in the hundreds each year. Accurate statistics are hard to find as in Qatar these deaths are often attributed to 'natural causes' by the government, but some suggest that the number of deaths by 2022 could reach as many as 4000.
Why is this an acceptable human cost for hosting a World Cup?
In this interview, I talk to freelance journalist Pete Pattisson about his investigation into modern-day slavery and the World Cup. We discuss the abuse of migrant workers, working conditions, death rates, and what action FIFA should be taking.
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Show notes and transcription:
https://www.defiance.news/podcast/fifas-qatar-world-cup-slave-labour-shame-pete-pattisson
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Timestamps:
- 00:00 - Show Intro
- 01:51 - Welcoming Pete to the show
- 04:02 - Why countries in the Gulf rely on migrant workers
- 05:01 - Minimum wages for migrant workers in Qatar
- 09:56 - Who is regulating/monitoring this?
- 10:51 - The steps the migrant workers take to get to Qatar
- 16:24 - How many migrant workers have died for the World Cup to be delivered?
- 21:27 - What is life like for a normal Qatari resident
- 25:59 - What progress has been made?
- 34:18 - A fair minimum wage
- 40:03 - Could there be up to 4000 deaths in the buildup to the World Cup?
- 44:45 - What should FIFA be doing?
- 50:03 - Liverpool FC reject The Marsa Malaz Kempinski Hotel over human rights concerns
- 53:58 - The death of Rupchandra Rumba
- 57:19 - Is this state-sponsored slavery
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