The Guardian reports
that Nepalese migrants building the infrastructure to host the World
Cup in Qatar have died at a rate of one every two days in 2014 despite
government's promises to improve their working conditions. Even more
disturbingly, this report does not include the deaths of Indian, Sri
Lankan and Bangladeshi workers.
This report follows an alarming 2014 ESPN investigation that asserted
in the last year alone, 184 Nepali migrant workers died from "cardiac
arrest" caused by the working conditions and extreme heat. And that's
just Nepalese workers: The documentary estimated that, at the current
rate, more than 4,000 migrant workers will die by the time Qatar puts on
the 2022 World Cup.
A brutal project: Qatar had vowed to reform the industry after a 2013 Guardian investigation exposed
the slave-like conditions and treatment of migrant workers brought into
the country to aid with World Cup preparations. The investigation
uncovered evidence of forced labor, retained salaries, confiscated
passports and restricted access to free drinking water in the desert
heat.
The government commissioned an investigation by the
international law firm DLA Piper and had promised to improve worker
conditions, but human rights groups have accused Qatar of dragging its
feet on real reform, saying not enough is being done to investigate the
effect of working long hours in blistering temperatures.
"Figures sourced separately by the Guardian from
Nepalese authorities suggest the total number of Nepalese worked who
died between January and mid-November of 2014 could be as high as 188,"
Owen Gibson and Pete Pattisson report. "In 2013, the figure from January to mid-November was 168."
"We
believe that the people helping us build our country deserve to be
fairly paid, humanely treated and protected against exploitation," said
Qatar's Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Abdullah Saleh Al Khulaifi
in a November statement.
"We fully appreciate there is much more to do but, as in every country
in the world, change does not happen overnight. Significant changes such
as these take more time to implement than some may wish, but we intend
to effect meaningful and lasting change for the benefit of all those who
live and work in Qatar."
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