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Amnesty International has called on football's global governing body to put pressure on Qatar to improve labor conditions for hundreds of thousands of temporary migrant workers residing on the tiny Persian Gulf peninsula.
The gas-rich state of Qatar, which is hosting next year’s World Cup, has been under FIFA’s scrutiny since it was awarded the contract more than ten years ago to host the 2022 competition.
“Qatar has made a number of positive reforms in recent years, partly in response to increased scrutiny after the World Cup contract was awarded,” Amnesty said in its statement on Monday. “But too often these are not properly implemented and thousands of migrant workers continue to be exploited and abused,” it added.
The rights group also called on FIFA president Gianni Infantino to implement “independent and regular” monitoring of all 2022 sites and projects to detect and prevent rights abuses.
“FIFA has an opportunity to help leave Qatar a better place for migrant workers,” it said.
Last week, Qatar increased the minimum wage for hundreds of thousands of migrant workers residing on the island to $275 a month.
Aljazeera news agency cited the International Labor Organization (ILO) as noting that more than 400,000 workers – or 20 percent of the private sector – will benefit directly from the increase in minimum wage.
In 2018, Qatar amended its residency law to allow most migrant workers to leave the country without an exit visa; and in 2020, it scrapped a rule requiring employers’ consent to change jobs.
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