Dubai: Qatar’s appalling treatment of migrant workers, a significant number of whom are Nepalis, has surfaced once again in a probe by a German broadcaster.
Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (WDR), a German public broadcaster outlined the dreadful conditions of Nepali migrants working on the construction of numerous stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar.
The workers were found to be living without money or food, in cramped spaces and prison-like conditions.
In a video, one worker said he and around 125 others were “prisoners”.
He said they only eat bread and drink water.
“I can’t do it anymore. I just want to go home. I can’t even call my family in Nepal. If only the company would pay us the money we deserve.”
These workers have been working on World Cup projects for Design Maintenance, a sub-contractor for the Al Thumama Stadium, which is a 40,000-seat stadium located 12 kilometres south of Doha, the capital city.
Qatar is building nine new stadiums and renovating three others for the FIFA World Cup.
It has come under a flurry of international scrutiny and criticism for its treatment and exploitation of its nearly 2 million migrant labourers.
In 2013, an investigation by the British Guardian newspaper had uncovered similar working and living conditions of migrant workers, calling them World Cup ‘slaves’.
It predicted 4,000 migrant deaths by the time the project would be completed.
