At the center of the criticisms of the 2022 World Cup organized in Qatar are the working conditions and the many deaths of foreign workers at the World Cup sites. Two journalists, Sébastien Castelier and Quentin Muller, have published “The Slaves of the Oilman”, a book in which they give a voice to these shadow workers. Storytelling.
“Poor living conditions, poor quality water, long working hours, we know it’s not good for our health, but do we really have a choice?” Asks Krishna Timislina. This 36-year-old worker worked for several years at the World Cup venues in Qatar. “Thanks to our work, Qatar is taking shape. Stadiums, shopping malls, bridges, roads … they are coming out of the ground. It is magical to see this city grow, but it is a dream where we are not welcome”.
Interviewed by the two journalists Sébastien Castelier and Quentin Muller in their book “Les Esclaves de l’homme-petrole” (Éd. Marchialy), he describes his working conditions: the infernal rhythms – sometimes up to eighteen hours a day – kept with energy drinks, extreme weather conditions – “summer is hell on Earth” -, questionable water, accommodation in a prefab with no space or privacy and above all deaths from exhaustion or construction accidents …
“Russian Roulette Migration”
How can we explain that, despite these now widely known dramatic conditions, workers continue to flow in from Kenya, Nepal, India, Pakistan or Sudan?
“They play the Russian roulette of migration. They know that danger is not an absolute certainty, so they try their luck,” explains Sébastien Castelier. “What attracts them are the high salaries, very high compared to those of the country of origin. It is an economic opportunity that is worth the risks”.
>> See also: Qatar: shadow workers
For their investigation, the two independent journalists have given the floor to all these workers, too often reduced to simple figures by the macabre death tolls on the construction sites of the World Cup. Collecting about sixty testimonies from the heart of the industrial zone of Qatar, which hosts almost 400,000 workers, but also from their countries of origin, Sébastien Castelier and Quentin Muller describe in detail the migratory system on which the Gulf countries are built, true modern slavery.
“It’s a disposable workforce,” sums up Sébastien Castelier. “Migration to the Gulf countries is organized like this. It is impossible for an immigrant to obtain local nationality. So when he no longer works he leaves. We saw him during Covid when everything was at a standstill”.
>> Also read: FIFA World Cup in Qatar: Fifa called to compensate migrant workers
However, the Gulf countries are not the only ones benefiting from this migration system. In Nepal, 25% of GDP is generated by women and men who go to work abroad. A situation that encourages governments to look at these migrations with a benevolent eye, also to encourage them by organizing departures and thus preventing migration candidates from falling into the hands of dishonest touts.
Kafala, the heart of the company
However, despite all the world’s preparedness, arrivals to the Gulf countries border on shock and fall into an exploitative system. At the heart of the latter, the “Kafala”. This system, widespread in the Gulf but also in Jordan and Lebanon, assigns each migrant a sponsor (or “Kafeel”), often his employer. Indeed, every immigrant often finds himself at the mercy of his employer, who most of the time confiscates his passport when he arrives.
“It’s a mechanism that gives the employer a lot of power over his employee. If the employer follows the rules, everything will be fine. But if not, the employee’s life can become hell,” says Sebastien Castelier.
In full communication for the World Cup, Qatar abolished Kafala in 2016: “But there are still several perverse mechanisms of this system”, contradicts the Gulf specialist. “In particular, the possibility of declaring an employee on the run. If a domestic worker wants to report abuse by her employer, the latter can declare her on the run with a click. The police, instead of collecting the maid’s report, will bring her back directly to her executioner. “
“As in all countries of the world, there are virtuous but also corrupt employers. The problem is that the corrupt can do what they want! There is a feeling of total impunity,” explains Sébastien Castelier. “Workers cannot rely on justice. Employers know that all they have to do is send them back to their country and they will never hear of it again. “
What is the true death toll on World Cup construction sites?
The massive influx of foreign workers will have enabled Qatar to prepare the necessary infrastructure for one of the largest sporting events in the world by building new roads, a new airport, a bespoke railway network and seven new stadiums. However, the human cost has been dramatic. The International Labor Organization counted fifty World Cup workers dead in 2020 and hundreds more injured, an underestimated figure according to NGOs. In a report published in August 2022, the NGO Amnesty International said “that more than 15,021 non-Qatari people – of all ages and professions – died between 2010 and 2019” in the country, while admitting that “without investigation , the data on the causes of death are not reliable “.
Our new report documents how Qatar regularly issues death certificates for migrant workers without conducting proper investigations, instead attributing the deaths to “natural causes” or vaguely defined heart failure.https://t.co/EhjWYxQ9km
– Amnesty International (@amnesty) September 21, 2022
In 2021, the British newspaper The Guardian proposed a figure that has had a lasting impact on public opinion: it is estimated that 6,500 workers have died in Qatar since the World Cup was awarded to the emirate. “This data comes mainly from Asian workers’ embassies. We do not have the statistics for African workers ”, contextualizes the co-author of the book“ The slaves of the oilman ”, recalling that he is probably underestimated.
Furthermore, the two journalists also point out that this assessment does not take into account workers who die once they return home. Throughout their book, they investigate and question these early deaths, often due to kidney problems following the ingestion of poor quality water during their time in the Gulf or the abuse of alcohol and artisan distilled energy drinks to keep up. with the hellish pace away from their families.
“It’s inhumane”
Frightening numbers of mortality which can be explained in particular by the climatic conditions in the peninsula, no bigger than Île-de-France: “In the summer it is very hot. Working in the construction sector in these temperatures is a real hell. Qatar has emanated. a ban on working in the summer between 10:30 and 15:00, but many violations have been detected “, complains Sébastien Castelier.
And the co-author details the rest of the deadly cocktail of factors: poor hydration on construction sites with often poor quality water, often too long days with workers encouraged to work overtime to send more money to their relatives, unworthy living conditions with the overcrowding of workers in unsanitary shacks and poor quality food, often provided by the employer.
But Sébastien Castelier also points to an unknown cause of death: the lack of training of this workforce from afar. “We put untrained people on huge machines or scaffolding, they often have no idea of the safety measures to be taken and accidents are on the rise,” says Sébastien Castelier.
Qatar plays its image
With this World 2022, the emirate knows that it is playing its international image: “Qatar is perfectly aware of the problem represented by the fate of migrant workers. There is a desire to maintain control of communication and history, that of a reformer country “, Sébastien Castelier considers.
This image is therefore jealously protected. Throughout the book, the two reporters describe a heavy atmosphere in which independent journalists do not seem welcome to “put human stories” about mortality on construction sites or to visit the industrial estate on their own away from the travels of the organized press.
“The Qataris themselves are trying to protect this narrative,” explains Sébastien Castelier, recounting the misadventure of his co-author Quentin Muller. While reporting in the industrial area, he was taken in charge and then followed by two Qatari women, eager to inform the police of his presence in this district, where the dark side of the country is buried.
Qatar, which has lifted the ban on workers from changing employers and introduced a minimum monthly wage of 1,000 Qatari riyals (around 280 euros), says it has done more than any other country in the region and firmly rejects reports of thousands of deaths in advanced construction sites by the international media.
“Qatar has implemented some reforms but they have come late and therefore they will only be quantifiable after the World Cup. If they are sincere – why not after all? – we will not know until after. They are not, they are likely to return when the attention of the media has drifted away “, warns the journalist.
>> Also read: Qatar: behind “carbon neutrality”, the “greenwashing” World Cup.
And the future risks bringing its procession of new tragedies to the Gulf. In 2029 Saudi Arabia will host the Asian Winter Games, in the future megalopolis of Neom. In addition to the ecological aberration constituted by the organization of the Winter Games in the desert, the Kafala is still there.
