As of: 08/26/2021 3:07 p.m.
In a new report, Amnesty has made serious allegations against Qatar, the host of the soccer World Cup: the deaths of thousands of people have not been investigated, although there are indications of a link to dangerous working conditions.
The human rights organization Amnesty International is calling on World Cup host Qatar to clarify the deaths of thousands of migrant workers in the country. The authorities of the Gulf State have failed to clear up numerous cases over the past ten years, according to a report by the organization. There are indications of a connection between the deaths and the dangerous working conditions in the emirate.
“When relatively young and healthy men suddenly die in extreme heat after many hours of work, this raises serious questions about working conditions in Qatar,” said Amnesty expert Katja Müller-Fahlbusch, according to a statement. The authorities issued death certificates to foreign workers without properly investigating the causes of death. Instead, deaths were vaguely attributed to “natural causes” or “heart defects”. According to several family members, their deceased relatives should not have been autopsied in Qatar.
For the report, Amnesty said it interviewed leading medical professionals, checked government data on thousands of deaths, analyzed death certificates and interviewed survivors. “If workers were exposed to dangerous conditions such as extreme heat, Qatar must immediately take measures to improve the protection of current employees,” emphasized Müller-Fahlbusch.
Demands for a World Cup boycott
The soccer world championship will take place in Qatar in 2022. Because of the allegations that foreign workers are being exploited there, calls for a World Cup boycott are in the room. Qatar’s government has launched several reforms to improve the situation of foreign workers. Migrants are now allowed to leave the country or change jobs without the consent of their employer. Amnesty criticizes the implementation of the reforms as inadequate, however, and exploitation is still the order of the day.
According to the British Guardian, more than 6,500 workers from Southeast Asia have died since the 2010 World Cup in Qatar. Qatar’s government argues the death rate is in an expected range given more than 1.4 million people from the region in the country. The Guardian figures do not reveal exactly what activities the deceased carried out.
According to Amnesty, it is unclear how many workers have died in preparation for the World Cup. World Cup organizers speak of 37.