Qatar abuse of migrant workers condemned by European parliament
The European parliament has passed an emergency resolution condemning the widespread abuse of migrant workers in Qatar and urging Fifa to "send a clear and strong message to Qatar to avoid the football World Cup 2022 [being] delivered by the assistance of modern slavery".
But there was disappointment among those who had proposed the motion, after the Christian Democrat and Conservative voting blocs succeeded in removing a clause calling on Qatar to abolish the kafala sponsorship system that ties migrant workers to their employers.
The resolution called on Qatar – under pressure after a Guardian investigation and a series of reports by organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch exposed the scale of the problem – to reform and uphold its labour laws.
The resolution reminds Fifa "that its responsibility goes beyond the development of football and the organisation of competitions".
Fifa said it welcomed the resolution. Despite previously saying there was "plenty of time" to sort out the issue, Fifa president Sepp Blatter this week said it should be addressed as a matter of urgency, following a meeting with trade union leaders in Zurich.
Around 88% of Qatar's 2 million population is made up of migrant workers, the highest ratio in the world. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has warned that 4,000 workers could die before a ball is kicked in 2022, if the government does not urgently reform the system.
The resolution registered concern over issues including "long working hours, hazardous working conditions, the workers being unpaid for months, had their passports confiscated, forced to live in overcrowded labour camps, denied the right to form unions, and without access to free drinking water in extreme heat".
The Qatari government, which has engaged the law firm DLA Piper to conduct an indepdendent review of abuses in the construction sector, said the resolution was "premature".
"Qatar takes the allegations that have been made concerning the construction sector extremely seriously and has therefore already put an independent review into those allegations in place, to be conducted as a matter of the utmost urgency," the Qatar foreign ministry said.
"Qatar will deal severely with any abuses on the part of companies operating in its construction sector, particularly relating to its migrant labour force."
A new, in-depth Amnesty International report last Sunday revealed wide-scale and endemic mistreatment of workers, many of whom are heavily in debt and tied to their employer through the kafala system.
Green MEP Barbara Lochbihler, chair of the European parliament's subcommittee on human rights, said the resolution sent "an important signal both to the Qatari government and international football authorities on the need to take urgent action to address the situation regarding forced and slave labour in Qatar".
She added: "While we regret that centre-right MEPs succeeded in removing a core demand, calling for the abolishment of the kafala system, the resolution nonetheless highlights the fundamental flaws of this system, which pushes thousands of migrant workers into a situation of forced labour. We would urge the Qatari government to repeal the kafala system as a matter of urgency and for Fifa to prioritise this in its relations with Qatar in the context of the World Cup."
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