2022 FIFA World Cup: Lest we forget those who make it possible
From 20 November 2022, the extravagant stadiums in Qatar will be buzzing with football fans and athletes representing their countries at the largest sporting event in the world. Missing from this crowd will be the migrant workers who built the very stadiums the matches will be played in
The 2022 FIFA World Cup is less than a week away. The World Cup is one of the highest viewed events in the world, with the 2018 event viewed by about 3.6 billion people worldwide. The final match between France and Croatia drew in a global audience of 1.12 billion viewers.
As one would recall, Qatar's winning bid in 2010 to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup was marked by a contrasting response of celebration and controversy.
On the one hand, the mega sporting event will be hosted for the first time in a Middle Eastern country, creating the potential for Qatar to showcase its formidable economic achievements and unique culture on the global stage.
On the other hand, Qatar's longstanding history of migrant labour relations was brought to the fore by its selection as the host nation. Issues of Qatar's migrant worker exploitation took centre stage as the nation's demand for labour skyrocketed in 2010 in preparation for the construction of
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football stadiums, hotels, restaurants, and other entertainment facilities to accommodate the World Cup.
Migrant workers, who comprise more than 90 % of Qatar's total labour force, have met this demand.
Since the announcement of Qatar as the 2022 World Cup host nation, the country has experienced a large influx of Bangladeshi migrant workers, particularly in the construction sector. It is estimated that a staggering 4 lakh Bangladeshi workers joined the Qatari workforce between 2010 and 2022.
The announcement of Qatar hosting the World Cup and the subsequent inflow of migrant workers put Qatar under the spotlight of international human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, unsurprisingly, given their track record of migrant worker mistreatment.
Accounts of exploitation against Bangladeshi construction workers in Qatar – as well as death resulting from unsafe and unsanitary work or living conditions – are plentiful.
Amnesty International, for instance, reported on the exploitation of World Cup migrant workers who were exposed to forced labour, exorbitant recruitment fees, wage theft, and squalid living conditions.
More recently, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Qatari authorities transported migrant workers to detention centres under the false pretence of COVID-19 testing, before expelling them without cause or notice, in blatant violation of international laws.
Such exploitative practices are enabled by the kafala system, the notorious migrant-monitoring mechanism employed by the Gulf Cooperation Countries of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and the UAE.
Under the kafala system's sponsorship mechanism, a migrant worker's visa and work permit must be arranged by their respective employer, thereby systemically tying workers' legal status to their employers.
Moreover, the renewal of contracts, the ability to change jobs, and authorisation to leave the receiving state remain at the employer's sole discretion, providing them with unrestrained power and control over migrant workers' lives and livelihoods.
Qatar has introduced reforms to their labour laws following international pressure in consideration of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, such as setting a national minimum wage and easing the requirements for a worker to change jobs or leave the country.
However, severe shortcomings and loopholes continue to exist and, which in turn create opportunities for workplace abuse.
For instance, while the confiscation of migrant workers' passports by employers is now illegal in Qatar, World Cup construction workers have reported that it remains a standard coercive mechanism deployed by employers to prevent them from attempting to escape exploitative working conditions.
Recruitment practices in Bangladesh: Setting the stage for vulnerability
The exploitation of World Cup migrant workers begins even before migrant workers reach Qatar, via the unethical recruitment practices of agencies and brokers. It is estimated that Bangladeshi workers pay significantly higher recruitment fees to migrate to Qatar than workers from other countries. In contrast to Bangladesh, Nepalese workers pay between USD 1,000 and USD 1,500 in recruitment fees, while our workers pay between USD 3,000 and USD 4,000.
Under the Qatari labour law, recruitment agents are prohibited from deducting recruitment fees from workers' wages. However, Bangladesh does not enforce similar restrictions on local recruitment agents. This results in a shift of burden onto migrant workers, in the form of paying recruitment fees upfront in Bangladesh. This, in most cases, necessitates borrowing money from family or local lenders, pushing workers into debt from the onset of their migration trajectory.
The practice of borrowing further exacerbates the vulnerability of the workers as it discourages them from leaving poor working conditions due to high indebtedness. Consequently, this perpetuates the debt bondage that so many World Cup workers have found themselves in.
Additionally, there is a high prevalence of 'contract substitution' by recruitment agents, wherein falsified work and salary details are stated on the contract presented to a worker in Bangladesh. They then face a vastly different and grim reality upon arrival in Qatar, especially when it comes to wage and work conditions.
Remittances, rights, and responsibilities of the Government of Bangladesh
Bangladesh benefits considerably from outmigration and remittances sent back by migrant workers, which amounted to approximately USD 24.7 billion in the fiscal year 2020-21.
This contributes significantly to easing labour market pressures in Bangladesh and replenishing the national balance of payments.
Between 2015 and 2020, an average of 7.1 lakh workers left for overseas jobs each year, roughly equivalent to a third of the total number of workers joining the labour force in Bangladesh annually.
The central legal document pertaining to the protection of Bangladeshi migrant workers, the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act 2013 (OEMA 2013), intends to "establish a safe and fair system of migration, [and] to ensure rights and welfare of migrant workers and members of their families".
However, many of its provisions remain unimplemented, placing migrant rights in peril.
The OEMA 2013 states that authorities must ensure that valid contracts and visas are issued prior to a migrant's departure. However, a 2020 survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics found that nearly 41% of the 27.3 lakh Bangladeshi migrant workers interviewed received no written
contracts before their departure, indicating that they had arrived in Qatar without knowledge of the nature of their work and living conditions.
The 8th Five Year Plan (2020-2025) (8FYP) of Bangladesh attaches high importance to making Bangladesh a preferred source of manpower in addressing labour demands in countries around the globe.
In the 8FYP, the Government of Bangladesh reiterates its promises of "promoting zero migration stance until the dignity, fairness, freedom, security and human rights of all Bangladeshi expatriates, especially for women migrants, are ensured".
However, despite the exacerbated exploitation of migrant workers in Qatar throughout the decade of preparation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Bangladesh has not responded in line with its objective of promoting a zero migration stance by halting labour supplies to Qatar.
Looking forward: Prioritise labour rights
From 20 November 2022, the extravagant stadiums in Qatar will be buzzing with football fans and athletes representing their countries at the largest sporting event in the world. Missing from this crowd will be the migrant workers who built the very stadiums the matches will be played in.
As a matter of fact, the influx of Bangladeshi migrant workers to Qatar began long before 2010, when Qatar won the rights to host the event, and will persist long after the end of the World Cup.
It is imperative that Bangladesh revises and updates its labour protection laws and, most importantly, lays in place a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation mechanism that ensures the implementation of such laws in the interest of securing the rights and safety of migrant workers.
In an increasingly globalised world, where migrant labour flows are becoming increasingly crucial to economies, migrant-sending countries such as Bangladesh and migrant-receiving countries must work cooperatively to devise labour laws that serve the rights and interests of workers
prioritising protection over profits and rights over remittances.
Let the Qatar World Cup and its consequences on migrant workers be an opportunity to move towards this aspiration and justified demand for better labour rights.
Sanjana Prachee Rahman is a Graduate Student of Political Science, York University, Canada
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.
