Qatar has failed to explain up to 70% of migrant worker deaths in past 10 years – Amnesty
World Cup host Qatar has failed to investigate the deaths of
thousands of migrant workers in the past decade, according to a new report by
Amnesty International.
The human rights organisation said the majority of migrant worker
deaths in Qatar are attributed to “natural causes”, cardiac or respiratory
failure; classifications which are “meaningless” without the underlying cause
of death explained, according to one expert cited.
As a result, as many as 70% of deaths may be unexplained. “In a
well resourced health system, it should be possible to identify the exact cause
of death in all but 1% of cases,” the report said.
The findings come as Qatar and Fifa face growing pressure from footballers
and national football associations to protect workers’ rights with just over a
year to go until the World Cup begins.
Qatar’s World Cup organising committee has reported 38 worker
deaths on World Cup construction projects, of which 35 have been classified as
“non-work-related”. However, Amnesty believes nearly half of these deaths have
not been properly investigated or explained.
The rights group says intense heat and humidity exposure is likely
to be a significant factor and has urged the Qatari authorities to put in place
better protections for workers.
“When relatively
young and healthy men die suddenly after working long hours in extreme heat, it
raises serious questions about the safety of working conditions in Qatar,” said
Steve Cockburn, Amnesty’s head of economic and social justice.
In failing to investigate the underlying causes of migrant workers’
deaths, the Qatari authorities are ignoring warning signs which could, if
addressed, save lives. This is a violation of the right to life.”
Qatar’s treatment of its migrant workforce of 2 million has come
under unrelenting scrutiny since it won the right to host the competition in
2010. In February the Guardian revealed that more than 6,500 migrant workers
from south Asia had died in Qatar in the past decade.
Qatari authorities have claimed that the migrant mortality rate is
within the expected range given the workforce size, but epidemiological experts
quoted in Amnesty’s report question “the authorities’ ability to make this
claim … because of the low quality of data available”.
They also said that migrant workers – who undergo health tests
before departing for Qatar – are generally young, healthy and “in the prime of
their lives
In May, the Qatari authorities took a number of steps intended to
protect workers from the heat, including extending the summer working hours
ban, when workers cannot operate outdoors during the hottest part of the day,
by a month. Amnesty welcomed the measures but said they did not go far enough.
The report described the devastating toll on the families of
workers who die. Under Qatar law, compensation must be paid where deaths are
“caused by the job”, but the failure to properly investigate deaths means
work-related causes may not be identified, allowing employers to avoid
compensation, Amnesty said.
“I did not
receive any compensation from Qatar. The camp boss said the company had no
compensation rules for those who died of heart attacks and those not on duty,”
said Bipana, the wife of Tul Bahadur Gharti, a 34-year-old construction worker
from Nepal who died last year.
“Being alone is
very difficult. I feel like my life has been wasted … My husband was set on
fire. I feel like I’m burning in oil.”
In response to the report, the Qatar government highlighted its
record on labour reforms, including a new minimum wage and the removal of
barriers to change jobs.
It claimed to have made significant progress on tackling the
effects of heat stress and said injury and mortality data were in line with
international best practice, setting new standards for the region.
