The human cost of 2022 World Cup

A Guardian report reveals the extent of exploitation suffered by the world's poorest workers.

The Guardian has revealed that low wage migrant workers have been forced to pay billions of dollars in recruitment fees for work at World Cup installations in Qatar.

Bangladeshi men migrating to Qatar are likely to have paid about $1.5 billion in fees, and possibly as high as $2 billion, between 2011 and 2020. Nepali men are estimated to have paid around $320 million and possibly more than $400 million between 2015 to 2019.

The paper noted that migrants from Bangladesh and Nepal, who make up around a third of Qatar’s 2-million strong foreign workforce, typically pay fees of $3,000 to $4,000 and $1,000 to $1,500 respectively. 

This means that many low-wage workers from Bangladesh who can earn as little as $275 a month have to work for at least a year just to pay off their recruitment fees.

With just months to go until the World Cup kicks off, the findings reveal the scale of exploitation endured by some of the world’s poorest workers, including many who have been employed on World Cup-related construction and hospitality projects.

The figures, which have been calculated by the Guardian and corroborated by a number of labour rights groups, are an estimate based on the prevalence and cost of recruitment fees and related expenses reported by numerous human rights groups and labour experts between 2014 and 2022.

The charging of recruitment fees is illegal in Qatar, but this practice is widespread and deeply entrenched, and sources confirmed that the Qatari Government is involved and beneficiaries of these fees paid by workers.

The Qatari authorities claim to have taken steps to address the problem by opening employment centers in eight countries in 2018, where workers must go to complete various administrative tasks and sign their contracts before leaving.

While the centers may have reduced the incidence of “contract substitution” – where workers find different terms and conditions in Qatar to what they were promised at home – experts said they have done little to curb recruitment fees.

While some workers are recruited for free or minimal cost, the vast majority are forced to pay; often victims of deals between employers and agents in Qatar and a chain of recruiters and brokers in Nepal and Bangladesh.

In some cases, employers or agents in Qatar secure visas to recruit workers and then demand kickbacks of about $300 to $500 for each worker.

The Government of Qatar has the greatest blame for its failure to protect workers’ rights and to secure them. Some accuse it of being the biggest beneficiary of the fee payment process. 

It receives the largest dividend in addition to employing workers to build World Cup stadiums and infrastructure, and while it gets from workers billions of dollars It also pays billions to support terrorism and the project of political Islam in the region.