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Ensure migrant workers receive the compensation they deserve and create lasting change in Qatar
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During our 18-month investigation and the development of our explosive report, "If we complain, we are fired", the Equidem team came across hundreds of workers that worked on the FIFA World Cup stadium sites who faced discrimination and exploitation. Thousands are still owed their wages, had to pay illegal recruitment fees or were subjected to poor working conditions. There are also countless bereaved families that lost loved ones on Qatar construction sites who are yet to receive compensation.
Why are we raising money?
Unpaid Wages
Construction, maintenance, and security workers employed on FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadiums reported wage theft. Some workers received no wages and benefits or smaller wages and fewer benefits than they were owed. Some had their salaries unilaterally cut or were required to work overtime without compensation. These practices violate international labour standards under the ILO Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95), which provides for the regular payment of wages, including upon termination. Further to this, workers on Al Bayt, Al Rayyan, Al Thumama, Education City, Khalifa, and Lusail Stadiums described wage theft throughout their time working on these sites.
Link to Unpaid Wages
Poor Working Conditions
Workers at FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadiums described being made to work long hours under the constant fear that they would lose their jobs. This culture of fear is sustained through nationality-based discrimination and workplace violence—including physical, verbal, and mental abuse. Migrant construction workers and security guards described working in excessive heat, cold, dust, and through the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Despite the extreme risks to their health and safety posed by these conditions, workers reported that they were not given sick leave and forced to work through sickness and exhaustion under threats of termination. Workers who contracted COVID-19 were quarantined until they were no longer contagious and then made to return to work immediately.
Link to Poor Working Conditions
Illegal Recruitment Fees
Migrant workers described obtaining jobs based upon illegal recruitment practices, including promises of higher salaries and different working conditions than they experienced when they reached Qatar. All 60 of the workers interviewed by Equidem for this report, including migrant workers employed on all eight FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadiums, described paying illegal recruitment fees, ranging from USD 99 to USD 4,500. On average, workers paid USD 1,874 in recruitment fees. For many workers, these fees are the equivalent of an entire years salary in their home country and placed workers and their families in significant debt with extremely high interest payments.
Link to Illegal Recruitment Fees
How will your donation be used?
Compensation
We are tracking down thousands of workers and their families that are owed compensation and conducting a comprehensive, independent assessment of the range of rights violations workers faced on FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Stadium sites, and how FIFA and the Qatar government should compensate all workers and their survivors for these harms.
Donate todayCreating Lasting Change
We will lead on advocacy on behalf of migrant workers - calling on the Qatar authorities to support the establishment of a genuinely independent Migrant Worker Centre to create a space in society for these people without discrimination and an environment where engagement with migrant workers is in a manner that enables workers to share their concerns while protecting workers’ privacy and safeguarding workers from retaliation.
Donate today"If we complain, we are fired"
During our 18-month investigation, and the development of our explosive report, “If we complain, we are fired”, the Equidem team came across hundreds of workers that worked on the World Cup stadiums who are still owed their wages. The non-payment of workers took various guises: some workers were not paid their monthly salary for months on end; while still other workers, were never paid for their overtime labour. Workers also faced the non-payment of end-of-service benefits and deductions for sick leave. Equidem’s investigation is a strong indicator that there are thousands of workers who have still not been paid their wages, and we request contributions towards finding and helping these workers finally get the compensation owed to them.
Please contribute whatever you can. Every penny contributed will go towards helping workers and their families receive the compensation they deserve. To learn more about the findings and recommendations in our report, “If we complain, we are fired” download it now.
Download the full report