1000s of migrant workers died in Qatar building the stadiums and infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup.
What happened?
We take you to Nepal for firsthand accounts from their families who asked Why are no governments companies or organizations taking responsibility?
The Inside Story: Cause of Death, Migrant Workers and the World Cup.
Hi. I’m Heather Murdock, , here in Egypt.
The FIFA World Cup is, perhaps, the biggest sporting event of them all. More than three and a half billion people watched the previous tournament on television – nearly half of the entire world.
But the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been mired in controversies since the small Gulf country was named the host twelve years ago.
Qatar has spent more than $200 billion dollars on new World Cup stadiums and related infrastructure – but the nation has almost no native construction workers. That has required a massive number of workers to travel to Qatar.
The system of importing labor – known as Kafala – has led to accusations of unsafe working conditions, abuse and exploitation by construction companies, and the deaths of thousands.
This week, we will take you to Nepal to meet some of these workers and the families who lost loved ones in Qatar.
Here is “Cause of Death: Migrant Workers and the 2022 Qatar World Cup.”
Football is one of the most popular games in the world.
When I play, it makes me so happy.
We play against the local teams.
And everyone is celebrating when we win the game.
To celebrate, we take pictures of ourselves with the trophy. And later on we also receive some cash prize. With that money we throw a party for the boys. That's it.
Certainly the most surprising decision was the 2022 victory by Qatar, to become both the first Middle East nation and the smallest nation to host a FIFA World Cup.
An estimated two million migrant workers are in Qatar, mostly from South Asia and Africa. There were widespread complaints of unpaid wages, dire living conditions and dangerous construction sites.
All the stadiums, they are state-of-the-art, they are beautiful.
But in no way can FIFA accept to be responsible for the welfare of workers, they belong to commercial and industrial companies of other countries. We couldn't do that.
I am from Nepal. My uncle passed away three and a half months ago in Qatar.
We find coffins with dead bodies arriving to Kathmandu airport.
My husband died in Qatar four months ago.
I had a son who passed away.
He died in Qatar.
My father called me with the news and asked me to come home right away. I couldn’t believe it and I said, “I talked to him this morning.”
He told me that his ticket home was booked for next month. But the next morning at 4 o'clock he was found dead.
I have lost my son. What else is there to say?
My name is Ramesh Gupta.
Our team name is Shree Mahabir Sports Club.
If I had the opportunity to stay in my village, then I would like to start a small business.
We have a shop here that I would expand.
The government has not been able to provide enough employment opportunities for all of the people here in Nepal.
So, because we have no choice, in order to earn a living, to live our lives and to secure a future we are forced to go abroad.
I'm not sure what work I will get overseas. It's not determined yet.
But, given my abilities, it would be good if I could work in an office.
Or, I would like to work as a cashier.
Yes, I do get scared.
The work we do abroad is like that.
We have to work at building construction sites, and we don't know what might happen.
Whatever work people can get, they do it.
Since we don't have proper education, whatever work we get, we have to do.
A lot of people have died in Qatar.
In 2010, when Qatar clinched its bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the controversies began.
The tiny Gulf country didn’t have the infrastructure in place to host the World Cup.
Qatari representatives were accused of bribing their way to securing the Cup. Investigations into alleged corruption continue more than a decade later.
There were complaints summer heat — sometimes soaring to 50 degrees — was too much for fans and players. That was solved by moving the games to the winter.
And while wealthy, Qatar has virtually no native construction workers. But over the next 10 years the population of foreign workers grew, adding more than 65% to the foreign population.
The influx meant the already fraught system of hiring abroad for labor would be put to the test.
And it was.