Qatar’s ‘Kafala’ System And UEFA’s Involvement: UEFA’s Role In Perpetuating The Human Rights Abuses Associated With Qatar’s ‘Kafala’ System Of Sponsorship-Based Employment
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Qatar's oppressive laws on liberality have seen a relaxation for upcoming World Cup visitors. Its recent statements expressing tolerance for visiting fans from the LGBTQ+ community, in spite of its repressive laws on homosexuality, may be an indication of the nation’s agenda of bolstering tourism over upholding its regressive social attitudes. In contrast, its violative measures against labourers, to ensure adequate infrastructure for some 200,000 football enthusiasts, have shed light upon the human rights abuses synonymous with its kafala system of sponsorship.
The kafala system of labour sponsorship regulates the lives of some 1.7 million migrant labourers in Qatar. The legal framework, which affords private citizens and companies in Qatar almost complete autonomy over the employment and immigration status of migrant workers, sees the frequent deportation of foreign workers alleging not to have been paid for as long as seven months, according to Equidem. These eased regulations on the protection of workers often result in extremely poor working conditions, employee abuse and racial discrimination. Preparation for the FIFA World Cup has revealed these endemic flaws.
Under the spotlight of Qatar’s World Cup, the violative and unethical practices conducted as part of immigrant employment are recognisable. On top of ‘punitive and illegal wage deductions’ and ‘gruelling work’- with few mechanisms to obtain justice - the campaign group , Human Rights Watch, has reported that around 6,500 migrant workers from countries in South Asia have died. Paid a pittance for their work, often as low as $275 a month for 14-hour work days, migrant labourers are regularly required to work a year just to pay off their cost of recruitment. When investigated within a human rights framework, the realms of the unethical also transpose into that of the illegal.
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011) reinforces the need for human rights to be respected. This extends to the rights of workers in Qatar. The onus does not only fall upon project development conglomerates in Qatar, whose practices are often extortive, but also to entities like FIFA, to ensure such rights are upheld. In the lead-up to the largest sporting event in the world, the emphasis on worker abuse has seen just a fraction of the focus. FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, has repeatedly stated that the upcoming World cup will be ‘the best World Cup ever’, but with little being done to remedy the rights abuses of past World Cups, such as the 2016 tournament in Rio de Janeiro, the footballing federation is seeing increased calls for accountability and the upholding of its own internal statutes. Marred by exhaustive rights abuses, including the confiscation of passports and work visas, the banning of unions, and harmful housing and working conditions, the prospect of this event being enjoyed by all involved seems unattainable under current efforts.
There are, of course, reforms which may serve to aid a marked progression away from the curtailment of fundamental human rights. Following years of limited action, Qatar has signed an agreement with the UN International Labour Association (ILO), a significant step towards better rights protection. This includes the promise of improved access to justice, health and safety and increased pay. In contrast, these promises of reform have fallen by the wayside in the lead-up to the FIFA World Cup, which has amassed astronomical costs of around $220 Billion for Qatar. Without transparent reporting of worker deaths, better pay, and the increased intervention of human rights institutions, such violations will remain commonplace. The same sentiment of public obliviousness on the part of FIFA’s president in press statements is a damning indictment of where the motivations of football institutions lie too. Perpetuating rights abuses associated with World Cup construction, stakeholders of FIFA, such as fans, sponsors and football associations have remained mute on the vast human cost and indignity of the sporting event.
Whilst the kafala system makes up just a minor part of the deceptive recruitment practices and worker abuses conducted in Qatar, it is clear to see those huge investment strategies and multi-billion dollar construction contracts have taken precedence over the protection of migrant workers in the lead-up to the World Cup. Without further global intervention and serious promises of reform from nations still adamant in their use of kafala, the ensuing human rights abuses will remain a continued reality. Migrant worker abuse in Qatar is currently a mere ‘by-product’ of infrastructural advancement in the current shift away from oil dependence and movement into tourism.
Sources:
https://www.icao.int/MID/Documents/2019/FWC2022%20TF2/FWC2022%20TF2%20PPT2.pdf
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/08/22/qatar-world-cup-controversy-continues-60-migrant-workers-arrested-protesting-dire-conditions/
https://www.equidemresearch.org/news/united-arab-emirates-kafala-system-harmless-or-human-trafficking/
https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/08/24/how-can-we-work-without-wages/salary-abuses-facing-migrant-workers-ahead-qatar
