Qatar, which will host the 22nd FIFA World Cup beginning in late November, announced the arrest of 60 protesting foreign workers on Sunday. The workers were protesting the lack of pay for their labor.
According to Qatari officials, “a number of protesters were detained for breaching public safety laws” with demonstrations that began a week ago. The officials said some of the detainees would be deported, but offered few other details of their identity or the charges against them.
Qatar relies heavily on immigrant labor and is frequently accused of abusing its foreign workers. Migrant laborers have sporadically protested against unpaid wages and poor working conditions for years.
Videos circulating online showed dozens of angry workers gathered outside the headquarters of Al Bandary International Group, a powerful privately-owned conglomerate. The demonstrators blocked roads around the company’s offices until the police hustled them to a detention center, where they were reported held in 105-degree heat without air conditioning.
According to Mustafa Qadri, executive director of labor consultancy Equidem Research, the police told the prisoners that “if they can strike in hot weather, they can sleep without air conditioning.”
The government of Qatar admitted Al Bandary is under investigation for non-payment of wages and recently missed a deadline to settle outstanding salary payments. The Labor Ministry promised to compensate unpaid workers, although Qadri’s group said it was unclear how many payments have been made.
The Official Emblem of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™️ is unveiled in Doha’s Souq Waqif on the Msheireb – Qatar National Archive Museum building on September 03, 2019 in Doha, Qatar. (Christopher Pike/Getty Images for Supreme Committee 2022)
Another watchdog group called Migrant Rights accused another Bandary subsidiary, the Electro Watt Company, of not paying its workers for at least six months. Migrant Rights also repeated the accusation that Qatari police taunted detainees by turning off their air conditioning.
One of the jailed workers who spoke with Equidem Research said up to 300 migrants from Asia and Africa are being held at the detention center. Many of them said they still have not been paid for their work, by either their employers or the Qatari government.
A general view shows the Lusail Stadium, the 80,000-capacity venue that will host this year’s World Cup final, on the outskirts of Qatar’s capital Doha on August 15, 2022. (MUSTAFA ABUMUNES/AFP via Getty Images)
The Associated Press on Monday noted Qatar made some reform promises to secure the 2022 World Cup from FIFA in 2010, and while it has eliminated a noxious practice called kafala that essentially made workers the property of their employers and implemented a (very low) minimum wage, other reforms are lagging.
“Have we all been duped by Qatar over the last several years?” Qadri asked in dismay.
In May, a coalition of human rights groups urged FIFA to match the World Cup prize money with a donation to abused migrant workers in Qatar, including unpaid workers and those who were injured or killed preparing for the World Cup.
“In awarding the 2022 World Cup without imposing any conditions to avoid foreseeable labor rights abuses and subsequently failing to take timely and effective preventive measures in this regard, FIFA contributed to the widespread abuse of migrant workers on World Cup-related projects that followed,” the coalition said in a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
FIFA responded to the demand by claiming it was already working with the Qatari tournament organizers to ensure all compensation and benefits were paid – a claim seriously challenged by last week’s protests and arrests.
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