Less than ten days before the World Cup in Qatar begins, Amnesty International has urged FIFA President Gianni Infantino to pledge a compensation package for the migrant workers who constructed the competition’s gleaming stadiums.
Amnesty, along with 24 other organizations, including Human Rights Watch, wrote to Infantino in May pleading with him to create a program to address “abuses” that employees have experienced.
According to the groups, numerous migrant workers have experienced widespread labor abuses and exploitation, the majority of whom are from South Asia, South-East Asia, and Africa.
Employees have complained about long hours without days off, forced labor-like working conditions, and lost and unpaid wages.
Adidas, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s, among other World Cup sponsors, have backed the initial call, and the Australian national team has released a video in which it claims that some workers have been harmed as a result of the decision to hold football’s premier tournament in Qatar.
In an opinion piece that was published in international media on Friday, Agnes Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International, stated: “Amid this growing clamour, the most crucial voice of all has remained conspicuously silent: Gianni Infantino.
“Despite private and public assurances from FIFA that they are ‘considering the proposal’, Infantino, a few platitudes aside, has consistently dodged the topic. To date, he has provided no response to our joint letter.”
How FIFA President reacted to the call for compensation
In a letter earlier this month, Infantino infuriated rights groups by urging the 32 competing nations in Qatar to “focus on the football.”
Additionally, he urged the teams to stop “distributing moral lessons”.
While calling the letter “a crass attempt at shirking FIFA’s culpability for these abuses and responsibility towards these workers,” Callamard acknowledged that Infantino had “presided over a notable shift in the governing body’s approach to human rights.”
“Enshrined in (FIFA’s) own policies is a commitment to remedy human rights abuses it has contributed to,” she said in the op-ed.
“Given the well documented history of labour rights abuses in Qatar, FIFA knew — or should have known — the obvious risks to workers when it awarded Qatar the tournament.”
What Qatar is saying about compensating migrant workers
A minister in Qatar told AFP this month that calls for a compensation fund for migrant workers killed or injured on World Cup projects were a “publicity stunt” and that the country has rejected the idea.
Ali bin Samikh Al Marri, Qatar’s minister of labor, claimed that the Gulf state already paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid wages and accused those who criticized it of “racism.”
A remedy package would be difficult to create and implement, according to Amnesty, who claimed that this was a “common refrain” from FIFA and the Qatari government.
“Yes the number of people and the scope of abuses involved make this a complex undertaking: but this must not be used as an excuse for inaction or further delay,” Secretary General Callamard said.
“All we are calling for at this stage is a cast-iron commitment from FIFA that abused workers will be compensated and that programmes to prevent further abuses are funded,” she added.
“This should include a centre where workers can learn about their rights and seek legal assistance and advice. All of this can be done at the stroke of Infantino’s pen.”
Alasdair Bell, FIFA’s Deputy Secretary General, told the Council of Europe in October “it was important to try to see that anyone who suffered injury as consequence of working in the World Cup… is somehow redressed” and said it was “something that we’re interested in progressing”.
