Amnesty alleges 'forced labour' abuse at Qatar World Cup venue

Foreigners account for roughly 90 per cent of the 2.5 million people living in Qatar - many of them low-paid migrant workers

A view of the construction work at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, 26 March, 2016 (Reuters)

Migrant workers faced abuse that in some cases amounted to forced labour while working on the 2022 Qatar World Cup stadium, Amnesty International alleged.

Rights groups and news organizations have previously raised serious concerns about working conditions in Qatar, but the latest Amnesty report stands out because it links alleged mistreatment directly to work on a World Cup venue.

The group's findings will intensify pressure on Qatar to accelerate labor reforms as the tiny and immensely rich Gulf country races to transform itself with sweeping infrastructure projects ahead of the games.

Amnesty compiled the 52-page report based on interviews from February to May last year with 132 construction workers at the Khalifa International Stadium, one of several arenas that will host World Cup matches.

Migrant labourers work at a construction site at the Aspire Zone in Doha, Qatar, 26 March, 2016 (Reuters)

The London-based group also interviewed 99 migrants doing landscaping work in a surrounding sports complex that is not directly related to the games, and three other gardeners working elsewhere.

Foreigners account for roughly 90 per cent of the 2.5 million people living in Qatar, many of them low-paid migrant workers from South Asia. Most of the workers interviewed in the Amnesty report were from Bangladesh, India and Nepal.

All of those interviewed reported some kind of abuse, including squalid or crowded living quarters, salary payments being withheld for months, and measures including passport confiscation that make it difficult to leave the country.

Migrant workers elsewhere in Qatar have reported similar problems in the past.

In this 4 May, 2015, file photo taken during a government organized media tour, foreign workers walk between safety barricades at the site of the pitch of the Al-Wakra Stadium that is under construction for the 2022 World Cup in Doha, Qatar (AP)

Many in the Amnesty report said their sponsoring employer failed to obtain or renew their work permits, leaving them subject to fines and detention.

The report's most damning findings center on what Amnesty says is evidence of forced labor involving workers employed on the refurbishment of the Khalifa stadium, a venue first built in the 1970s that is being overhauled to host World Cup matches.

The forced labor allegations involve workers employed by at least one small labor supply company contracted to provide manpower on the stadium project. The report includes comments from five workers who described being forced to work against their will after trying to leave or refusing to work because of pay disputes.

One worker who told Amnesty he tried to return home because of consistently late pay alleges his boss threatened to withhold his salary and told him to "keep working or you will never leave."

Mustafa Qadri, Amnesty's Gulf migrant rights researcher, said he believes many other workers face similar situations, but confirming that is difficult because of the challenges in reaching workers and the risks they face in speaking to researchers.

He acknowledged that Qatari authorities have taken some steps to improve labor conditions, but said they must put far more priority on the issue as preparation for the games intensifies.

"Clearly there's a problem here. Whatever they've done has not been enough to prevent abuse.

"What we'd like to see is not excuses but actual action."

AP