The new report issued earlier this week exposed how far Qatar would go to deny workers their rights ahead of a critical FIFA Executive Committee meeting scheduled to be held in Zurich today. The FIFA Executive Committee were given a mandate to investigate labour rights problems in Qatar, after the ITUC estimated 4,000 workers could die before a ball is kicked in the 2022 World Cup. The FIFA committee meeting is scheduled for today and tomorrow and is expected to discuss the issue of migrant workers in Qatar according to that recent report. The statement issued by the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy and circulated among media denied all allegations. It read as follows: “We are fully aware of the challenges we face as the State is preparing for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. While those challenges are far-reaching and extremely complex, the responsibility of contributing to the solution to these problems is something that we are completely dedicated to. This commitment makes it all the more disappointing to read an entire section in the International Trade Union Confederation's report dedicated to the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy littered with factual errors and attempts to discredit the positive work we are undertaking. No one has died on World Cup projects. The most fundamental error in the report is the fact that the employee accommodation referenced on page 17 is not where the construction workers who are building the new Al-Wakrah Stadium, a proposed Host Venue for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, live. The International Trade Union Confederation's report described accommodations underneath the bleachers of Al-Wakrah Sports Club's current stadium. Our 108 construction workers live in a refurbished accommodation on Street No. 23 in Doha's Industrial Area, which has been visited by TV crews from Reuters and ZDF in the past weeks. The International Trade Union Confederation never visited our accommodation, nor requested to do so. Moreover, had the International Trade Union Confederation approached Al-Wakrah Sports Club with their findings they would have learnt that the club are in the process of completing a new accommodation facility within the complex for their employees who currently reside in the accommodations referenced in the International Trade Union Confederation's report. This accommodation, which contains 24 rooms with kitchens and living rooms, will be completed at the end of the month. Each room will house a maximum of two to three employees. Our Workers' Welfare Standards clearly regulate working and living conditions and are being implemented on our first stadium and accommodation sites, as demonstrated in the photos and videos that have been shared with you today. Since January 2014, the Supreme Committee's Workers' Welfare Committee has conducted three successful inspections to enforce and monitor this implementation. The International Trade Union Confederation's statement that our standards have no credible enforcement mechanism is hence both incorrect and misleading. We know that there are issues. While this process of change is not something that can be achieved overnight, we have the will and the commitment to see it through. We are already seeing the fruits of our partnerships with leading international organisations on the ground. We welcome further international support of this type in order to achieve our goals.” Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, had said in the ITUC report that Qatar is a government that takes no responsibility for workers and its response to public criticisms is focused on public relations. According to the 34-page report, The case against Qatar, during a site visit to Al-Wakrah Stadium in Qatar, the ITUC General Secretary found 38 World Cup workers from India, Nepal and Thailand living in squalor with mattresses on the floor in makeshift rooms underneath the bleachers or stadium seats. “With more than ten men to a room, dangerous and unsanitary cooking facilities outside their door and no personal space, this is unacceptable. Al-Wakrah site inspectors reported to the media they had signed off a ‘successful inspection' — an indication of blatant disregard for human beings,” Burrow said. FIFA responded to the ITUC photographic evidence of conditions at Al-Wakrah Stadium by describing the situation in Qatar as “complex.” “Qatar must change. FIFA can make a difference by making the abolishment of kafala and the respect of international rights a condition of Qatar hosting the World Cup in 2022. If FIFA demand Qatar abolish kafala and respect fundamental international rights, it will happen,” said Burrow. The kafala system is a sponsorship system used to monitor the construction and domestic migrant labourers in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf. The system requires all unskilled labourers to have an in-country sponsor, usually their employer, who is responsible for their visa and legal status. The report sets out the broken system for workers in Qatar, how Qatar fails the test of international law and provides new evidence on working conditions including: salty water being provided to workers in camps for cooking and washing; employers demanding deposits of US$275 to be paid by workers before they are allowed to leave for holidays; over 2,500 Indonesian maids a year fleeing from abusive sponsors; and World Cup workers in squalid accommodations at the Al-Wakrah Stadium. Since FIFA has the power to put conditions on the 2022 World Cup to make things different and to the better, the ITUC has written to FIFA and the Qatar authorities calling for: an end to the kafala system and the right of workers to have a collective voice through freedom of association; the use of ethical recruitment companies; a non-discriminatory minimum wage; and a compliance system that is fast, independent and has appropriate power for sanctions. Early construction works began at Al-Wakrah Stadium on 28 December 2013 and, according to the Qatar Committee for Delivery and Legacy, 41,884 men worked without injury as of 13 March 2014. Meanwhile, 108 workers on site from AMANA and Spacemaker, are offered cooled drinking water through a dispenser within a three-minute walk, access to a full health and safety site welfare plan, as well as free personal protective equipment. The estimated completion date of the stadium is 2018. Since January 2014, the Supreme Committee's Workers' Welfare Committee has conducted three successful inspections of the new Al-Wakrah Stadium workers' accommodation Al-Wakrah Stadium will be able to host Group, Round of 16 and Quarterfinal matches during the 2022 FIFA World Cup™. Its' precinct area is approximately 600,000 sq. m. The design uses sustainably sourced structural timber, reflecting the local seafaring tradition of Al-Wakrah in the stadium structure. In order to meet the carbon neutral objective of the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ in Qatar, the Al-Wakrah Stadium design supplies 15% of tournament energy using onsite renewable sources, reduces water use by 60%, uses 15% reused or recycled material in permanent structures and minimises waste by 90% through design efficiency and construction waste management. With 20,000 modular seats, Al-Wakrah Stadium is expected to receive Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) 4 Star and LEED Gold certifications and will serve as the future home of Al-Wakrah Sports Club.
