Human Rights Watch condemns Fifa and Qatar over World Cup migrant worker recruitment fees

Migrant workers were still paying exorbitant and illegal recruitment fees the year before the World Cup, Human Rights Watch found, criticizing both Fifa and Qatar for not yet committing to a recourse fund.

The body warned that, without action, “the real legacy of this tournament will be how Fifa, Qatar and all who profit from this World Cup have left the families of thousands of migrant workers in debt after their deaths and left many migrant workers who had their wages stolen without compensation”.

HRW interviewed more than 45 migrant workers between November 2021 and October 2022, from Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Nepal, as well as seven families of deceased migrant workers, 26 recruiters, five contractors from the Supreme Committee for Delivery and L heritage and three migrant workers working in human resource departments. Laborers said they paid huge recruitment fees, which involved borrowing at high interest rates, selling assets and using their savings. The workers were therefore left in debt bondage and unable to quit their jobs.

These recruitment fees are illegal in Qatar but remain a pervasive problem, which has raised questions about their willingness to tackle it. Although authorities have said it is outside their purview, the role that Qatar-based companies play in passing costs on to recruiters has not been taken into account.

HRW found that these companies contribute to recruitment costs by imposing costs on recruiters that they know will be passed on to workers.

Interviews show that even families of deceased workers had to deal with loan sharks demanding repayment of debt caused by recruitment fees.

Bulani Sahani, the father of a Nepali migrant worker who died in Qatar in 2022, was struggling to care for his grandchildren because his son had incurred recruitment fee debt: “My son left [to Qatar] after borrowing money [$1,106] many villagers. Now everyone keeps asking. They say I must have received compensation for my son's death, but I haven't received a single rupee. How am I going to repay them? I don't even have land to sell to pay them.

HRW argued that Fifa must establish a comprehensive program to address all abuses related to the 2022 World Cup. This was also the call of the #PayUpFifa campaign, which is a collective human rights lobby requesting the qualified federations to request it from the governing body. So far, only seven associations have publicly supported the call.

“With 30 days to go, Fifa and the Qatari authorities have little time to correct their course and commit to addressing the past abuses that marred the 2022 World Cup,” said Michael Page, deputy director for the Middle East at Human Rights Watch. “Unless FIFA and Qatar act, the real ‘legacy' of this tournament will be how Fifa, Qatar and all who profit from this World Cup have left the families of thousands of migrant workers in debt. after their death and left many migrant workers who had their wages stolen without compensation.

“Qatar authorities, companies and Fifa have had a dozen years to tackle the scourge of exorbitant illegal recruitment costs, but with small exceptions they have failed,” Page said. . “Now the only way to fundamentally remedy the loss of wages due to recruitment fees is to establish a workers' redress fund.”