How are workers from different countries including Pakistan treated in Qatar?
Soccer fans who will soon arrive in Qatar for the World Cup finals will stay in hotels and watch matches in stadiums built by tens of thousands of migrant workers.
Qatar is facing severe criticism for its treatment of these workers.
How many foreign workers worked on the World Cup project?
Qatar has built seven stadiums for the World Cup, as well as a new airport, metro system, new roads and nearly 100 new hotels.
An entire city has been built around this stadium where the World Cup final will be played.
Qatar’s government says 30,000 foreign workers were hired just to build the stadium. Most of these workers belong to Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and the Philippines.
How many foreign workers have died in Qatar?
According to the Guardian newspaper in February 2021, 6,500 workers from Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have died since Qatar was awarded the World Cup and began construction. was
This number is based on data provided by the embassies of various countries in Qatar.
However, the Qatari government has said that these figures are not accurate because not all of the deaths during this period were of people or workers working on projects related to the World Cup.
According to the Qatari government, many of the dead were people who had been working in Qatar for many years and may have died of old age or other natural causes.
The government said its accident records show only 37 workers died on World Cup stadium construction sites between 2014 and 2020, of which only three workers died while on the job.
The International Labor Organization (ILO), a global organization of workers, says that the Qatari government underestimates the number of deaths. Qatar does not count deaths from heart attacks and asphyxiation as work-related. Although these are common symptoms of heat stroke, which is caused by strenuous exercise in very high temperatures.
The ILO compiled its own data for World Cup-related incidents, collected from public hospitals and ambulance services in Qatar.
The organization says that in 2021 alone, 50 foreign workers were killed and more than 500 seriously injured, while another 37,600 suffered mild to moderate injuries.
BBC Arabic has also gathered evidence showing that the Qatari government has not provided full information on the deaths of foreign workers.
