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<\/p>\nMore than 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have died in Qatar since it won the right to host the World Cup 10 years ago, the Guardian can reveal.<\/p>\n
The findings, compiled from government sources, mean an average of 12 migrant workers from these five south Asian nations have died each week since the night in December 2010 when the streets of Doha were filled with ecstatic crowds celebrating Qatar\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n
Data from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka revealed there were 5,927 deaths of migrant workers in the period 2011\u20132020. Separately, data from Pakistan\u2019s embassy in Qatar reported a further 824 deaths of Pakistani workers, between 2010 and 2020.<\/p>\n
Mohammad Shahid Miah, 29, from Bangladesh, died when floodwater in his room came into contact with an exposed electric cable, electrocuting him.
\nThe total death toll is significantly higher, as these figures do not include deaths from a number of countries which send large numbers of workers to Qatar, including the Philippines and Kenya. Deaths that occurred in the final months of 2020 are also not included.<\/p>\n
In the past 10 years, Qatar has embarked on an unprecedented building programme, largely in preparation for the football tournament in 2022. In addition to seven new stadiums, dozens of major projects have been completed or are under way, including a new airport, roads, public transport systems, hotels and a new city, which will host the World Cup final.<\/p>\n
While death records are not categorised by occupation or place of work, it is likely many workers who have died were employed on these World Cup infrastructure projects, says Nick McGeehan, a director at FairSquare Projects, an advocacy group specialising in labour rights in the Gulf. \u201cA very significant proportion of the migrant workers who have died since 2011 were only in the country because Qatar won the right to host the World Cup,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
There have been 37 deaths among workers directly linked to construction of World Cup stadiums, of which 34 are classified as \u201cnon-work related\u201d by the event\u2019s organising committee. Experts have questioned the use of the term because in some cases it has been used to describe deaths which have occurred on the job, including a number of workers who have collapsed and died on stadium construction sites.<\/p>\n
The findings expose Qatar\u2019s failure to protect its 2 million-strong migrant workforce, or even investigate the causes of the apparently high rate of death among the largely young workers.<\/p>\n
Behind the statistics lie countless stories of devastated families who have been left without their main breadwinner, struggling to gain compensation and confused about the circumstances of their loved one\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Ghal Singh Rai from Nepal paid nearly \u00a31,000 in recruitment fees for his job as a cleaner in a camp for workers building the Education City World Cup stadium. Within a week of arriving, he killed himself.<\/p>\n
Another worker, Mohammad Shahid Miah, from Bangladesh, was electrocuted in his worker accommodation after water came into contact with exposed electricity cables.<\/p>\n
In India, the family of Madhu Bollapally have never understood how the healthy 43-year old died of \u201cnatural causes\u201d while working in Qatar. His body was found lying on his dorm room floor.<\/p>\n
Qatar\u2019s grim death toll is revealed in long spreadsheets of official data listing the causes of death: multiple blunt injuries due to a fall from height; asphyxia due to hanging; undetermined cause of death due to decomposition.<\/p>\n
But among the causes, the most common by far is so-called \u201cnatural deaths\u201d, often attributed to acute heart or respiratory failure.<\/p>\n
Based on the data obtained by the Guardian, 69% of deaths among Indian, Nepali and Bangladeshi workers are categorised as natural. Among Indians alone, the figure is 80%.<\/p>\n
The Guardian has previously reported that such classifications, which are usually made without an autopsy, often fail to provide a legitimate medical explanation for the underlying cause of these deaths.<\/p>\n
In 2019 it found that Qatar\u2019s intense summer heat is likely to be a significant factor in many worker deaths. The Guardian\u2019s findings were supported by research commissioned by the UN\u2019s International Labour Organization which revealed that for at least four months of the year workers faced significant heat stress when working outside.<\/p>\n
Labourers from Nepal put up scaffolding for the launch of the World Cup logo. They start work long before sunrise to avoid the heat.<\/p>\n
A report from Qatar government\u2019s own lawyers in 2014 recommended that it commission a study into the deaths of migrant workers from cardiac arrest, and amend the law to \u201callow for autopsies \u2026 in all cases of unexpected or sudden death\u201d. The government has done neither.<\/p>\n
Qatar continues to \u201cdrag its feet on this critical and urgent issue in apparent disregard for workers\u2019 lives\u201d, said Hiba Zayadin, Gulf researcher for Human Rights Watch. \u201cWe have called on Qatar to amend its law on autopsies to require forensic investigations into all sudden or unexplained deaths, and pass legislation to require that all death certificates include reference to a medically meaningful cause of death,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Qatar government says that the number of deaths \u2013 which it does not dispute \u2013 is proportionate to the size of the migrant workforce and that the figures include white-collar workers who have died naturally after living in Qatar for many years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mortality rate among these communities is within the expected range for the size and demographics of the population. However, every lost life is a tragedy, and no effort is spared in trying to prevent every death in our country,\u201d the Qatari government said in a statement by a spokesperson.<\/p>\n
The official added that all citizens and foreign nationals have access to free first-class healthcare, and that there has been a steady decline in the mortality rate among \u201cguest workers\u201d over the past decade due to health and safety reforms to the labour system.<\/p>\n
Other significant causes of deaths among Indians, Nepalis and Bangladeshis are road accidents (12%), workplace accidents (7%) and suicide (7%).<\/p>\n
Covid-related deaths, which have remained extremely low in Qatar, have not significantly affected the figures, with just over 250 fatalities among all nationalities.<\/p>\n
The Guardian\u2019s research has also highlighted the lack of transparency, rigour and detail in recording deaths in Qatar. Embassies in Doha and governments in labour-sending countries are reluctant to share the data, possibly for political reasons. Where statistics have been provided, there are inconsistencies between the figures held by different government agencies, and there is no standard format for recording the causes of death. One south-Asian embassy said they could not share data on the causes of death because they were only recorded by hand in a notebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a real lack of clarity and transparency surrounding these deaths,\u201d said May Romanos, Gulf researcher for Amnesty International. \u201cThere is a need for Qatar to strengthen its occupational health and safety standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
The committee organising the World Cup in Qatar, when asked about the deaths on stadium projects, said: \u201cWe deeply regret all of these tragedies and investigated each incident to ensure lessons were learned. We have always maintained transparency around this issue and dispute inaccurate claims around the number of workers who have died on our projects.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, a spokesperson for Fifa, football\u2019s world governing body, said it is fully committed to protecting the rights of workers on Fifa projects. \u201cWith the very stringent health and safety measures on site \u2026 the frequency of accidents on Fifa World Cup construction sites has been low when compared to other major construction projects around the world,\u201d they said, without providing evidence.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SOURCE : THE GUARDIAN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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