Migrant workers recount abuse while building stadiums for World Cup in Qatar

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• Amna Nawaz:

  The men's World Cup begins in Qatar this Sunday, but controversies, from human rights concerns to onerous press restrictions, have shadowed the event.

  To host the Cup, the tiny Gulf nation went on a stadium-building spree, bringing in thousands upon thousands of migrant laborers. But there have been numerous stories about the largely South Asian work force being mistreated, and more than three dozen have died on the job.

  We partnered with independent filmmakers Fat Rat Films to hear from some of those workers about their experience with rampant abuse, low pay and squalid living conditions.

  As the men's World Cup kicks off in Qatar, many of the workers behind the games are now thousands of miles away, back in their home countries without the money they say they're owed, young men like Anish and Narayan, farmworkers from Nepal, who went to Qatar to build stadiums, in the hope of building better lives for themselves.

• Anish Adhikari, Nepali Migrant Worker (through translator):

  We can't earn money here, so we have to go abroad.

• Narayan Prasad Sigdel, Nepali Migrant Worker (through translator):

  I could earn almost double of what I earn here. That is why I went.

• Amna Nawaz:

  The promise of good wages, a few years of hard work to support family and start a nest egg is a seductive one for young Nepalis.

  But to secure the job, they must first pay agents a hefty recruitment fee, illegal under Qatari law, but common practice. It's a fee they could only afford by taking out massive loans.

• Narayan Prasad Sigdel (through translator):

  This is normal. Everyone pays this. People say free visa, free ticket. In reality, this does not happen. Almost all people from Nepal pay a recruitment fee.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Anish borrowed 200,000 Nepali rupees, just over $1,500, more than a year's salary in Nepal.

• Anish Adhikari (through translator):

  We were told that all our expenses would be reimbursed as soon as we arrived. They told us not to worry. This was all a lie.

• MAN:

  The winner is Qatar.

  (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

• Amna Nawaz:

  Since Qatar won the bid to host the World Cup 12 years ago, there have been numerous reports of worker exploitation, substandard living conditions, and worker deaths on construction sites.

  The small Gulf state relies on immigrant labor for its work force. And, in 2017, it pledged reform of working conditions. A commitment to the International Labor Organization, the adoption of minimum wage, and a system of monitoring labor practices were welcomed by the head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino.

• Gianni Infantino, President, FIFA:

  In a very short time, the progress, in terms of human rights, is already groundbreaking.

• Amna Nawaz:

  But now an explosive report from Equidem, a human rights organization, alleges that the changes were only surface-deep.

  Mustafa Qadri, cadre the CEO of Equidem, explains that, in reality, immigrant workers were still being subjected to systemic abuse by the companies and officials in Qatar.

• Mustafa Qadri, Chief Executive Officer, Equidem:

  We interviewed nearly 1,000 workers over an 18-month period. there's a very clear picture that emerges. Workers who have built these stadiums for the World Cup have been subjected to forced labor practices, and some of the biggest companies in those projects actively hid those workers from the monitoring process.

  It's really clear that this is a tournament built on the back of forced labor.

• Amna Nawaz:

  A Qatari government spokesman called Equidem's report — quote — "a completely unbalanced picture of the significant progress vs. the inevitable challenges that remain."

  But what Anish was served at dinnertime didn't feel like progress.

• Anish Adhikari (through translator):

  Sometimes, the company gave us rotten food. The fish would smell disgusting. It used to give us diarrhea.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Even something as basic as getting adequate water in the desert heat was a challenge.

• Anish Adhikari (through translator):

  It got up to 125 degrees Fahrenheit. We didn't get the water we needed. The water we got was almost 90 percent ice. We asked why they did that and told them it was impossible to drink water like that. They said they froze it because, if they provided normal water, the workers would drink more.

• Amna Nawaz:

  The only time there was adequate water, they say, was when an inspection was due.

• Anish Adhikari (through translator):

  The company was only nervous when FIFA came to inspect.

• Amna Nawaz:

  As part of the 2017 reforms, regular spot checks by FIFA officials were performed to ensure compliance with high standards and worker welfare. The idea was to create a space where workers could talk directly to FIFA.

  But workers say that the company made sure they never got that chance.

• Anish Adhikari (through translator):

  They would ring the fire alarm on purpose. When all the workers gathered at the assembly point, they would turn off the alarm, make everyone get on buses and drive us away from the stadium.

  The company would tell FIFA that we had all gone for lunch.

• Amna Nawaz:

  The systems created in 2017 to hold the companies to account on their treatment were being purposefully evaded.

  But, still, even two months ago, the head of Qatar's Supreme Committee overseeing the games hailed the protections in place at an annual global affairs forum.

  Hassan Al-Thawadi, Secretary-General, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy: We launched worker welfare forums within the Supreme Committee for the construction companies that were involved in the Supreme Committee.

  And these were set up to ensure that workers had a safe environment, where they can raise their concerns and grievances without any fear of reprisal.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Even when Anish and Narayan could complain, they say their concerns were ignored. And they knew that complaining meant they could lose their jobs.

• Anish Adhikari (through translator):

  One day, many of us went to make a complaint. We got a bit loud. Later, they called all of us to the camp and said, if we did this again, they would send us back home.

• Narayan Prasad Sigdel (through translator):

  If the foreman complained about the workers, they could get fired. If workers reacted about anything, instead, the workers were changed. Because of this, workers did not protest at all.

• Anish Adhikari (through translator):

  They used to punish us for complaining. They used to make us sign the warning letter learning.

  We were in a situation where we had to tolerate things as they were.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Quitting was not an option. Anish and Narayan were trapped in their situation by the 36 percent interest on their recruitment fee loan and unpaid wages.

• Anish Adhikari (through translator):

  I desperately wanted to go home in those moments, but then I would remember my family's situation. Apart from the loan I took to pay the recruitment fee, my family had other debts.

  We were around $5,300 in debt. I could not even think of coming back to Nepal.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Eventually, they did go back. They had to. Anish had his work permit taken away when he tried to switch jobs. Narayan was deported, he says under false COVID-related pretenses. Neither, they say, were we're paid what they were owed, about $4,000 for Anish and about $1,700 for Narayan.

• Anish Adhikari (through translator):

  I had expected to earn $9,000 in these three years, but I earned a third of it.

• Narayan Prasad Sigdel (through translator):

  Not only me. There are thousands of workers like me who are not getting what they are owed. There are many of us.

• Mustafa Qadri:

  Narayan and Anish are not alone. There are thousands other workers like them, each owed thousands of dollars. We estimate, in total, up to about half-a-billion dollars of money. Those lives could be transformed if Qatar and FIFA compensated those workers who made the tournament possible.

• Amna Nawaz:

  The teams taking part in the World Cup will share an estimated $440 million between them. Equidem is calling for FIFA to set aside the same amount as a fund to reimburse the migrant workers who've made it all possible.

  The stages are set for one of the world's biggest tournaments to kick off. The hope is that those who helped to build them won't be left behind.