Migrant workers in Qatar

All eyes are on Qatar as it prepares for the 2022 World Cup. Huge construction projects are underway to ensure that infrastructure exists for this grand event. The story of this growth and development is not all good news, at least for some. Qatar’s construction sector is rife with abuse, according to an Amnesty International (AI) report published as work begins on Fifa World Cup 2022 stadiums.

Amnesty says migrant workers are often subjected to non-payment of wages, dangerous working conditions and squalid accommodation. The rights group said one manager had referred to workers as “animals”. Amnesty said some of the abuses amounted to “forced labour”. Some migrant workers were threatened with penalty fines, deportation or loss of income if they did not show up to work even though they were not being paid, Amnesty said.

More than 1,000 people were admitted to the trauma unit at Doha’s main hospital in 2012 having fallen from height at work, Amnesty said, citing an unnamed hospital representative.

Some 10% were disabled as a result and the mortality rate was “significant”, AI said.

This is not the first report to focus on conditions for migrant workers in this country. Putting the spotlight on this nation and its treatment of migrant workers has a particular window of opportunity during this period leading up to the world cup.

Pray for God to use this time of world focus to expose the evil and bring changes that will improve the conditions under which workers are forced to operate. Pray for divine intervention that will bring lasting transformation in this nation and the lives of its workers.