Silent Cries of the Modern Slaves
Qatar’s World Cup construction workers under the kafala system
Dusty buses loaded with a myriad of Indian construction workers in blue uniforms enter the World Cup’s construction site at five in the morning. The sun has not risen, but the emaciated appearance of the workers is clearly visible as they uniformly march into the desolate arena, resembling slavery in plantations back in the eighteenth century. The workers’ backs are stained with sweat and their throats ache with thirst, but they have learned that the only solution is to persevere through the pain. As the workers receive their helmets, which is the only source of protection provided to them, they think about their family back in India, the money that they will send to their family, and the money that they will be forced to pay to the company.
The Qatar Situation
The World Cup is a global event that unites people around the world through dazzling fireworks, cheerful celebrations, and electrifying competitions. However, Qatar is being spotlighted prior to the 2022 World Cup on its capability and liability of hosting an international event due to the exploitation and high death tolls of construction workers in its World Cup stadiums; hundreds of construction workers are dying every year due to life-threatening heat and inadequate living and working supplies. It is important to address the shadow cast on migrant workers by the World Cup, construe the cause of the exploitation of workers, and explore possible solutions to diminish the abuse in Qatar.
A Small Country with Big Responsibilities
As a small Gulf country located in the Arab peninsula, Qatar lacks the basic infrastructure necessary to host the World Cup and contains critical faults that violate modern regulations regarding workers’ rights.
First of all, Qatar is one of the smallest countries to host the World Cup, which will attract numerous tourists and visitors to the country. With an area of 11,437 square kilometers, Qatar is significantly smaller compared to previous countries that hosted the World Cup, such as Brazil and France, which has a land mass of 8.51 million square kilometers and 644,000 square kilometers, respectively. Although the size of the country remains as a primary handicap for Qatar to host the World Cup, many more are concerned of the ghastly conditions that migrant laborers face when they build the 12 stadiums, along with other infrastructure necessary to host the World Cup.
In Qatar, 90 percent of the population are foreign workers with working visas or residency permissions; among these workers, the majority of migrant construction laborers are bound to their companies due to the kafala system, a notorious economic network that forces workers to toil in appalling living and working conditions. Despite these obvious consequences, FIFA and the Qatari government have remained relatively silent for the past few years, establishing no laws to abolish the kafala system or to enhance the workers’ rights.
The System of Torture
The kafala system is prevalent in the Gulf region, especially among construction companies that require foreign labor in order to meet the demands of their clients. Often referred as the “modern-day slavery”, the kafala system is a form of indentured servitude in which the employers have full authority over their workers.
After recruiting migrant workers with deceived salaries, companies immobilize them by confiscating their passports, which precludes the workers from traveling back to their home country. A construction worker who was interviewed by a BBC reporter recalls his memory of arriving at Qatar by stating, “[I] also have to hand over [my] passport on arrival, so [I] can’t leave. [I] feel trapped, like a prisoner”.
As a result, the workers are forced to subordinate to the company since they are obligated to send money back to their country in order to support their family. Not only are migrant workers compelled to work, but they are also pressured to pay recruitment fees to agents, which may take up to several months, if not years, to fully pay.
However, the kafala system initially was not a form of coercive labor. Ironically, the torturous system developed in the Gulf region so that owners could protect their workers by sponsoring them. As an example, pearl divers were “sponsored” by boat captains, since they required boats to acquire jewelry from the sea. Another theory is that the kafala system was established in the Gulf region in the early ages to protect foreign merchants who were relatively new to the region at that time. Nonetheless, the meaning and function of the kafala system deteriorated as companies began to focus on profit, rather than the workers’ safety, which is evident by the mass exportation of migrant workers from foreign countries.
Humans with No Human Lives
In Qatar, construction workers who are bound by the kafala system are destined to work in life-threatening environments and live in appalling conditions. Among the numerous excruciating working conditions, the most dominant factors are the inhumane heat and high temperatures that shadow on the workers during the day.
In the summertime, Qatar experiences a devastating rise in temperature that fluctuates between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius when the sun is at its peak. Without specific laws that curb working time during these deathly hours, the workers are pressured to continue to work without water or air conditioning. When asked to articulate the working conditions, a construction worker responded by saying, “Conditions on the sites are very bad. You work all day out in the open in extreme heat. You start at 04:00 and work all day. There is no cold drinking water on the site, just hot water. It is very oppressive”.
After returning to their dwellings, a group of construction workers are packed in a small room that have filthy sanitation and an inadequate sewage system. To make the conditions worse, workers are provided with loathsome food, which is best described by a worker who remarked that the food is “dished out like in the Oliver Twist movie”.
The Cacophonous Silence
Recently, reforms to abolish the kafala system have been made in Qatar by establishing laws that ensure workers’ freedom and reduce a company’s influence on its workers. In November 2017, Qatar established its first minimum wage of 750 riyals, which is equivalent to 195 U.S. dollars; the Qatari government also enforced laws that would provide food, healthcare, and shelter for migrant workers, in addition to restricting employers from immobilizing their workers.
However, the Qatari government’s obscure actions seem as ephemeral responses to assuage the guilty abuse of migrant workers under the kafala system. In agreement, migrant workers’ expert Nicholas McGeehan stated that “Qatar’s reforms have been cosmetic and aimed not at improving the situation but rather at presenting a sense of progress”. It is important to address that migrant workers in Qatar toil for extensive hours, notwithstanding the fact that some migrant laborers have worked for almost five months without a week of rest. Nevertheless, the minimum wage for migrant workers is shockingly low, as 750 riyals earned by back-breaking labor in Qatar can be earned by working for only 27 hours in a fast food restaurant in the United States.
Sadly, the reforms taking place in Qatar are impeded by companies who mute their workers from disclosing the devastating standards of the working and living environments. As an example, a 29-year-old Nepalese construction worker was dismissed, jailed, and fined 4600 riyals after an interview with UN delegations who visited the construction sites in Qatar. This event highlights the helplessness of workers, as they are unable to convey their dissatisfaction and are imprisoned after losing their working visas, which are only provided to migrant workers who are ensnared by the kafala system.
In order to break the silence of the fabricated system, the International Labor Organization of the United Nations should continuously advocate reforms of the kafala system by pressuring the Qatari government and FIFA to establish strict regulations regarding workers rights, such as limiting working hours depending on temperature and salary, and to prohibit companies from immobilizing their workers through recruitment fees and indentured servitude.
Follow Up.
In my next article, I will discuss the exploitation in Qatar by comparing and contrasting it to events and themes in literature and history.
Please help me improve by giving constructive advice, tips, and/or suggestions. I am open to all feedback.
