World Cup 2022: Amnesty International says Qatar is still failing migrant workers

Amnesty International has accused Qatar of 'promising little and delivering less' in terms of meaningful reform of its labour laws

A foreign worker climbs scaffolding at the Al-Wakra Stadium that is under construction for the 2022 World Cup in Doha, Qatar (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

More than 62 workers will die for each game played during the 2022 World Cup.

That's according to Play Fair Qatar, which has just launched a new campaign along with the International Trade Union Confederation and the NewFifaNow group in a bid to shame Qatari authorities and Fifa over "appalling" conditions endured by the labourers building infrastructure for the football tournament.

Mr Russell said that "as things stand, more than 62 workers will die for each game played during the 2022 tournament".

"Fifa and its sponsors cannot wash their hands over what is happening. They have a moral responsibility to ensure that Qatar ends these human rights abuses now," he added.

Amnesty International today accused Qatar of failing migrant workers and "promising little and delivering less" in terms of meaningful reform of its labour laws.

A damning report said: "Without prompt action, the pledges Qatar made last year are at serious risk of being dismissed as a mere public relations stunt to ensure the Gulf state can cling on to the 2022 World Cup."

Qatari authorities claim to have improved conditions for hundreds of thousands of migrant workers.

In May 2014, under scrutiny from Fifa, the media and human rights campaigners, the government in Qatar pledged to reform the restrictive kafala system and said it would implement proposed changes "as quickly as possible".

Yet Amnesty reports that changes such as the introduction of electronic wage transfers to ensure workers are paid on time were still being implemented, and it had spoken to many migrants who still complained of late or non-payment.

One migrant told the human rights group that he had not been paid since arriving in Qatar five months ago.

Qatar has also reportedly failed to meet its target to have 300 labour inspectors in place by the end of 2014, Amnesty said, with limited progress on measures to improve safety on construction sites, regulate exploitative recruitment agencies and improve access to justice for victims of labour exploitation.

A spokesman for the Qatari government disputed several of the accusations made by Amnesty, telling the Guardian that it had appointed 294 labour inspectors and that new accommodation for 250,000 workers was being built.

The International TUC estimates that more than 4,000 people will die building the World Cup infrastructure - more people than will play in the World Cup itself – with an estimated total of 1.5 million migrant workers being key to its construction.

Last week a BBC crew attempting to film the labour villages were detained by Qatar police.

Mark Lobel, the BBC's Middle East correspondent, and his three-man team, who had been invited to Qatar to view new accommodation built for Qatar's migrant workforce, were held for nearly two days before being released.