How Qatar built stadiums with forced labor

And hurt thousands of migrant workers

Ever since Qatar won the rights to host the FIFA World Cup in 2010, its treatment of migrant workers has made international headlines. News stories and human rights organizations revealed migrant workers who built the stadiums, hotels, and all the new infrastructure required for the World Cup were being forced to work, not getting paid, unable to leave, and in some cases, dying.

At the heart of the abuse faced by migrant workers is the kafala system. A system prevalent in Gulf states that ties workers to their sponsors, it often gives sponsors almost total control of migrant workers’ employment and immigration status.

Due to all the scrutiny Qatar has been under, some reforms have been put in place, but the kafala system is more than a law — it’s a practice. And while these reforms exist on paper, human rights organizations say there’s still a long way to go.

To understand how hundreds of thousands of migrant workers were stuck in an exploitative system while building the stadiums for the World Cup, watch our 10-minute video above.

Further reading and sources:

To dig deeper into the exploitation and discrimination migrant workers face, here’s Equidem’s detailed report:

And here’s another report by Amnesty International:

To understand the migrant experience, check out this infographic from Migrant Rights that walks you through the process that traps them:

Migrant Rights’ full report on Nepali migrant worker deaths can be found here:

To learn more about initiatives to compensate migrant workers, you can check out Amnesty International’s campaign here:

[Vox]

You can also read more of our crucial reporting on the migrant labor system on Vox.com here:

[Xeonerable]

When your country is soooo rich and desperately needs workers but you still gotta trap them in debt and not allow them to leave. Taking their passports and not even letting them go home. Modern day slavery.

[wolfpzk]

"forced labor", nice term not to say slavery

[Dynasty]

Not really different to Dubai where workers are brought in from India and Bangladesh and Pakistan etc, who live in builder cabins on bunkbeds, have their passports taken away and not given back, then they're not paid for their work. So they can't leave nor afford to leave. Sad that the rest of us care but don't really care as long as X and Y buildings lead to Z for us.

[uajftw]

This happened to our family driver. He was promised a decent job in Saudi Arabia but instead his passport was confiscated and was forced to work as a servant for an Arab family. He spent more than a year there, and he basically had to escape the house with his passport to fly back home. This happened more than 10 years ago, he has a wife and 2 kids now but he has refused to fly overseas completely, the dude is still traumatized by what happened.

[kundanbharambe]

This system doesn't exist only in Qatar. It's across Middle East. And not only to workers but to the executive class as well. I was trapped as well but escaped before my passport was confiscated. The organisation doing this was a German MNC. The regional office in Saudi Arabia. My sincere request to whoever reading this is NOT to go to any Middle East countries for any kind of job. Work related travel is ok.

[avanishawade]

One of my classmates lost his father a few years ago. He was really poor and was enrolled under the RTE scheme for free in my relatively expensive private school. He told me that his father, who was a janitor in the school, died while at his job constructing a stadium in a foreign country. I remembered this while watching the video. He was just 29 and they never received his body. The school management sponsored his education but I don't know if he could continue his education after class 10. The saddest part is that this happened just before Diwali, when he was expected to return on leave.

[Allan-CJ]

This was known well before Qatar was chosen to host the world cup this year. Their labor practices have been documented pretty well prior to all of this. Fans still chose to purchase tickets while being aware of what it took to get these venues built up.

[PacificAnwer]

I am from Bangladesh, lots of my relatives and Brothers are working in Middle East including Qatar. The situation is, the people who go there for work are mostly unskilled and uneducated. They try and want to go Europ, America and others country but failed and rejected. This is Qatar and Middle East who give them the opportunity to come and earn 10 times higher than their native country. The average construction worker in my country earn 3-5 dollers a day where in Qatar they get more than 30 dollers a day. That's why they risk their life to go Qatar like country to change their fate.This video tells that people are fall in debt to arrange the cost of going Qatar, It's take six time more money to go europ for the same working visa than Qatar. If middle east stop hairing people from countries like us it will be huge loss not only for individual like me but also for the hole countries economy because remittance from those countries is a major source of foreign income.

[Curiouscucumber]

When I went to Saudi Arabia for Umrah, I visited the Masjid-E-Nababi at Medinah. There, an elderly Bangladeshi guy was cleaning the streets. My dad talked to him about how it's like here, has he visited home recently etc. The elderly man broke down in tears. My dad just pushed some money in his hands and left quickly as he couldn't bear to see his grief.

It was 4 years ago and it still fills me with rage to this day.

[mayanksingh]

Al Jazeera the most liberal international news agency that lectures everyone from USA to India to European countries. However, for the royal family funded news agency Al Jazeera, the Kingdom of Qatar is like too perfect and hence nothing to report.

[fromkentobaka]

my uncle in his younger days used to work in a middle eastern country with a name similar to the USA (censoring), he worked in a cleaning team, the kind you hire to clean your home/hotel, he worked that way for a year and later got an offer to become the house help of a sheikh there, he agreed to it, they told him they need his passport for visa stuff and he did give it to them, and was told to come to work immediately, to his horror HE WAS TRAPPED. his passport was not given back to him and he was supposed to live with them in a horribly maintained servant quaters. he worked there for around 5 months, luckily the sheikh's wife was fond of him. he kept requesting her to give him his passport so he can be free. although initially she disagreed his pleas, eventually she was able to give him back his passport and he was able to escape from there. he was never paid for the work he did there. later on, he went to work in america and said altho he faced racism there, it is nothing compared to the sub human treatment he got in that country.

[machinesofgod]

I traveled in India and came across people who had worked in the Gulf. Each one said that it was awful and they were treated worse than stray dogs. Unfortunately, not surprised by any of this. Also not surprised by FIFA's corruption.

[iamian]

Honestly this is the case in all gulf countries. Horrible conditions. And the way the treat labor is inhumane.

[sutirthabasu]

With a heavy heart, I hope the newly opened ILO office in Qatar will ensure that the labour laws are now fullfilled as reformed after the world cup is over and they also ensure the same in whole region.

[_years_and_]

RIP all hard working people who left us for world entertainment

[bharat]

This isn't mere content, this is a plea for awareness against basic human rights.

Thanks Vox for doing this 🙌

[WintaAssefa]

I'm reading so many of your comments here, and it's like reliving my days in Saudi Arabia, rage-reading newspaper headlines everyday, waiting for my dad's kafala/sponsorship issues to finally be resolved so our paperwork could be fixed and I could finally go back to school. I never did go back to school.

At some point, I had enough. I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia and was trying to make a presence in the Jeddah art scene. But the people I met in that scene were wonderful but I knew the government didn't want me and other immigrants' children there anymore—and they would only make our lives harder as the years went on. So, I left to my father's country and have been happy here since.

[alehawasimat]

im from bangladesh and the talk about migrant worker deaths has been circling in our local news for the last entire decade now and was mostly ignored by international news, only if this had gained enough attention earlier, so many lives could have been saved

[thelaughingstormbornagain]

The worst part of all this is that we know nothing will be done likely ever. The world loves to stand by while truly evil people destroy lives and the world.