Suspicions of corruption, denial of human rights and ecological disaster… The next World Cup organized in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December is talked about more for the many controversies it arouses than for its sporting aspect. While the world of football is watching this small country on the Arabian peninsula with attention, France Bleu returns to the reasons for this scandal.
Will there be fans in front of the TV to support the Blues during the World Cup? According to an Odoxa survey, almost half of the French alone (46%) intend to follow the competition held in Qatar from November 20 to December 18. This is twenty points less than the previous 2018 World Cup in Russia. The main reason for this lack of interest stems from the concern of those questioned about the local human rights situation. 78% of those interviewed say they are worried. And 66% think global exposure won’t change that.
How many migrant workers have died on construction sites in Qatar?
Because in addition to the ecological aspect, it is above all the humanitarian reasons that gather most of the criticisms related to the attribution of the World Cup to Qatar. Attracted by the prospect of better wages, these migrants, mostly from the Indian subcontinent, the Philippines and Africa, account for nearly 90 per cent of the emirate’s 2.8 million population. A chilling question sums up the situation: how many migrant workers died in the furnace of the World Cup stadium construction sites? This question at the center of the criticisms directed at the gas emirate seems destined to never get a precise answer.
One figure has made a lot of ink flow: that of the 6,500 foreigners who have died in Qatar since the assignment of the World Cup in 2010, anticipated in February 2021 by The Guardian. The British newspaper, which worked on data provided by the authorities of five Southeast Asian countries, explained that “death certificates“on which he relied”they are not classified by occupation or place of workBut many Western media have taken a shortcut and taken this figure by attributing these deaths only to the construction sites of the stadiums of the World Cup, to accidents, heart attacks due to heat or exhaustion, etc.
Three officially recognized deaths in stadium construction sites
Officially there were three deaths in the eight stadiums of the World Cup. A report by the International Labor Organization (ILO), which has an office in Doha, concluded that 50 workers died in workplace accidents in 2020 and another 500 were seriously injured. However, the ILO notes shortcomings in the system for investigating and recording deaths and indicates that the number could be higher.
No known international NGO has raised the figure of 6,500. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have asked FIFA to set up a compensation fund for migrant workers, without providing a budget. “This number has become iconic because it answers a question no one can answer.“, estimates the French Jean-Baptiste Guégan, professor and author of the Geopolitics of sport.
Extreme heat
“Without a thermometer it is impossible to measure the temperature“, summarizes a French trade unionist who has visited construction sites many times. By way of comparison, in 2019 the construction sector in France recorded 215 deaths”.But in a country with 20 times more inhabitants“compared to Qatar, specifies a source close to international NGOs.employee deaths, it is unclear how many died from the extreme heat, but there is no doubt that the matter is extremely serioussaid Steve Cockburn, Director of Amnesty International’s Economic and Social Justice Programme.
“Whether on World Cup-related construction sites or not, thousands of deaths remain unexplained over the past decade, and at least hundreds are likely linked to unsafe working conditions.“, he continues. “It’s easy enough to hide behind this vagueness. If the Qatari authorities have not premeditated these shortcomings, today they are a shield“, analyzes a source close to international NGOs.
In October, on France 5, the French journalist Quentin Müller, author of the book “The slaves of the oilman”, pointed out a big gap: “We have no statistics for African countries“, the second region of origin of migrant workers in Qatar. According to him, another missing figure is the deaths of workers returning home sick, in particular due to “kidney problems“due to poor desalination of the water supplied to the workers.
