[ad_1]
Amos, from West Africa, felt hopeless and disappointed. Qatar, the host of the 2022 World Cup, has let him down. While the Gulf countries were in the spotlight this time by winning the Asian Cup, Amos was in dire straits. He did not watch the final of the tournament. The Maroons retained their continental title, defeating tournament level Jordan with a hat-trick of penalty kicks from star player Afif Akram. Fireworks once again lit up Lusail Stadium, reflecting Qatar’s continued excellence in football. The Gulf country will soon host the Junior Asia Cup and the next two Arab Cups.
It all meant little to Amos, who was stuck on the poor side of Qatar’s capital Doha. In his hometown, his parents were farmers and struggled to make a living. The family obtained a Qatari visa for Amos and sold his home to work in the Gulf country. He paid about 20,000 Ghanaian cedis ($1,500) to a recruitment agency and was promised a job as a secretary in Doha. Amos was full of hope – after all, Qatar had hosted soccer’s premier event. He was watching images of West Bay’s glittering skyline, state-of-the-art stadium and Lionel Messi’s coronation on television.
“Part of the legacy of the World Cup is the belief among workers that there are many jobs and many opportunities in Qatar,” says Jason Nemerowski of the human and labor rights group Equidem. “More often than ever, workers are promised a job, pay thousands of dollars for a visa, only to find out the job doesn’t exist.”
In many ways, Amos believed that once you get there, the sky is the limit. He knew that Qatar was a safe country with a high quality of life and that he could make money.
“The agent promised me a good salary, health insurance, food and proper accommodation. But when I arrived in Doha, it was completely different,” Amos told me. “I arrived at my friend’s room, but it was full, so I slept on the street. My sponsor took me to a construction site because he didn’t have a job. I didn’t get paid for six months. , I worked without a Qatari ID or insurance card. It was very hard work.”
He has never met his sponsor and says his employer confiscated his passport. Amos and a group of his colleagues endured 12-hour shifts, working at a site that was sometimes used as accommodation for World Cup fans. He claims he only had two days off. But the worst was yet to come.
He recalls: “We received no salary and were kicked out of the accommodation. We threatened to take the matter to court, but instead of compensating us, they encouraged us to go anywhere. We slept on the streets for a week, then were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and slept in jail that night. After reporting what happened to the CID, we were asked by our sponsor Nothing was said or done.”
Amos said he receives a salary of at least 12,000 riyals (about $3,295) from his company.
Labor abuses like this should become a thing of the past. Qatar, local World Cup organizers and soccer’s world governing body FIFA have touted far-reaching labor reforms, linking workers to sponsors and companies and introducing the kafala system, which gives unlimited powers to the latter two. claimed to have been abolished. While Gulf states have moved to reform their labor systems on paper, the reality on the ground remains harsh, as the stories of Amos and countless other migrant workers demonstrate.
In Qatar, migrant workers are often vulnerable to protest against passport confiscation, wage theft, and demands for no objection certificates (NOCs) by employers. They rarely get legal representation.
“Many initiatives have led to actual labor reforms,” Nemerowski said. “However, enforcement of these laws has not yet been fully achieved.”
FIFA has tasked its Subcommittee on Human Rights and Social Responsibility to address the fundamental issue of compensation for migrant workers. In preparation for the 2022 World Cup, FIFA and Qatar have turned a deaf ear to calls from Human Rights Watch and several NGOs to compensate migrant workers worth $400 million in World Cup prize money. Ta. Next month, the subcommittee is expected to submit its long-awaited report.
A FIFA spokesperson said: “According to the International Labor Organization, Qatar’s labor reforms are significant and the World Cup was an important catalyst for reforms, benefiting hundreds of thousands of workers.” While there is no denying that great progress has been made, implementing such transformative reforms will take time and more efforts are needed to ensure that the reforms benefit all workers in the country. That is equally clear. ”
Meanwhile, Amos remains in Doha without money or work. “It’s very stressful and tiring. We feel powerless,” he concludes.
The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Heritage and the State of Qatar did not respond to requests for comment. Amos’ sponsor could not be traced.
follow me twitter.
[ad_2]
Source link
