Dylan Bettencourt
Security guards working in Qatar, including at the World Cup, are subjected to “forced labour”, a report by Amnesty International has claimed.
The 73-page report titled They Think That We’re Machines, released just days after the World Cup draw, documented the experiences of 34 security guards from eight different private security companies.
The report described guards working for months and years without being permitted a single day off.
A worker from Bangladesh told Amnesty that he did not have a day off in three years.
Another security guard from Kenya said he often went months without a day off.
The law in Qatar stipulates that every worker is subject to at least a single day off per week, a rule that the employers, according to the study, have ignored.
When workers took a day off during the week, the employers punished them with arbitrary wage deductions.
The workers are employed by private companies and tasked with providing security for sites such as football stadiums.
The study also found discrimination of certain employees on the basis of race, nationality and language.
Fifteen of the guards that participated in the study claimed they were often made to work outside in intense heat. This includes working without shelter or drinking water in the summer months when outdoor working hours are restricted.
The report revealed that four of the eight companies are not paying their staff members the overtime rate according to the country’s laws.
Some cases saw workers losing out on eight days paid work each month.
Amnesty International’s head of economic and social justice, Stephen Cockburn, said workers knew they were being exploited but felt powerless to challenge their employers.
“Employers are still exploiting their workers in plain sight and the Qatari authorities must take urgent measures to protect workers and hold abusers accountable,” he said.
This report comes only a few months after a report by The Guardian revealed that 6,500 migrant construction workers have died working on projects for the World Cup.
Image source: @Mail&Guardian
