FIFA World Cup 2022: Amnesty Says Dozens Of Workers From India, Nepal, Philippines Unpaid In Qatar

2022 The FIFA World Cup is scheduled to take place in Qatar between 21 November 2022 and 18 December 2022, across 8 to 12 cities with 32 nations.

In his recent accusations against Qatar over the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Amnesty International said that dozens of migrant workers were left unpaid for several months in the city of Lusail, who will host the final of the tournament. According to the London-based rights group, the engineering company Mercury MENA “failed to pay thousands of dollars of wages and services to its employees, leaving them stranded and immovable” in the country.

Amnesty claimed that at least 78 employees from Nepal, India and the Philippines were not paid since February 2016 and owed about 2,000 euros (1,700 euros) each. The human rights organization said that non-payment of workers had “ruined life”.

One of the workers, Ernesto, who comes from the Philippines, told Amnesty that he is now more in debt than he was before he began working in the country two years ago. Other Nepalese workers were also forced to leave their children out of school – or sell land – to repay their debts due to work in Qatar.

“By ensuring that they get the salaries they owe, Qatar can help these migrant workers rebuild their lives,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty’s global affairs director.

The statement from Amnesty added that Mercury MENA “exploited” the Kafala system in Qatar, which prevents workers from changing jobs or leaving the country without the permission of the managers. It adds that the workers had to leave the country at their own expense. FIFA has denied Amnesty’s claims, citing them as “misleading”. The body added that the non-payments were not linked to the 2022 tournament.