Amnesty accuses Qatar of abusing World Cup stadium workers

PanARMENIAN.Net - Rights group Amnesty International has accused Qatar of using forced labor at a flagship World Cup 2022 stadium, BBC News reports.

Amnesty says workers at Khalifa International Stadium are forced to live in squalid accommodation, pay huge recruitment fees and have had wages withheld and passports confiscated.

It also accuses FIFA of "failing almost completely" to stop the tournament being "built on human rights abuses." Qatar said it was "concerned" by the allegations and would investigate.

Amnesty interviewed 231 mostly South Asian migrants - 132 working at the stadium and 99 on green spaces in the surrounding Aspire sports complex.

Amnesty said every migrant it had interviewed had reported abuses of one kind or another, including being:

- required to pay fees of up to $4,300 to recruiters in their home country to get a job in Qatar

- deceived over the type of work and the pay on offer, which was sometimes half as much as they were promised

- threatened for complaining about their conditions.