YOUA daily nightmare for shadow workers. As the British newspaper points out The guardspotted in an article by International mailThe living conditions of migrant workers working on the construction sites of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar are almost inhumane, characterized by ridiculous salaries and days that push them to exhaustion. To successfully organize this sports competition, the most followed in the world, over the past ten years several hundreds of thousands of workers, mainly from South Asian countries, have traveled to Qatar to participate in the construction of the seven stadiums in which the matches will take place take place, but also on the construction site of the new airport or to build new roads, a metro or even hundreds of hotels.
Near GuardianThese workers loudly claim to have been exploited and abused, victims of unfulfilled salary promises. Between having their passports confiscated to prevent them from leaving the country and consecutive months without paid leave, it is a real ordeal that they have to endure. Despite the controversies and the implementation of various reforms, the majority of workers regret that the lines have not changed in terms of their pay, and regret that they receive only the minimum wage, i.e. 1.20 euros. Insignificant amounts compared to the colossal ticket prices set for the occasion: a first round match of at least 840 euros and a package of 10 matches in a private suite of almost a million euros.
“We built this country”
This cry of alarm is all the more striking when the British daily tries to question the local population, who are undeniably proud to host the World Cup. “We are the first Arab country to welcome this. This is a great achievement. We have done better than other countries bigger than us,” rejoices a Qatari. “When I arrived in Qatar, there was nothing here. We built this country,” says an exhausted Asian worker.
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Last February, The guard had estimated that at least 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have died in Qatar since the country won the right to host the competition in December 2010. A figure that equates to an average of twelve deaths among South Asian migrant workers every week. In total, more than two million migrants have come to work in Qatar at the various World Cup locations, the newspaper also emphasizes.
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