If this is the wrong place to put this I apologize, but I just saw a great article on Yahoo about the working conditions in the Qatar construction camps for the 2022 World Cup: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/-untouchable--fifa--president-sepp-blatter-responsible-for-atrocities-in-qatar-171943680.html
According to the story, under media pressure, the Qatari government did an investigation into the labor practices of the work camps. It came out with some shocking information.
It should be noted that the number came from the government's own investigation, so the actual number is potentially much higher then that. According to the story, most of the workers on the stadiums are impossibly poor migrant workers from surrounding countries. These workers are so desperate that they take out a loan to pay a recruitment company to place them with a job in Qatar.
Most of the deaths come from cardiac arrest and from construction accidents, but there are also indicators that suicide is also a big problem in the camps.
Sepp Blatter recently admitted that putting the world cup in Qatar was a mistake. Why? Because the Qatar summer was going to be too hot for soccer.
The author makes a point at the end of the article saying that FIFA and the World Cup are so powerful that they don't have to fear these atrocities getting out, because they expect the public and politicians from powerful nations to ignore this problem. The World Cup is still 8 years away, so a lot can change, but personally, I don't think Qatar is going to be able to hold onto this tournament for much longer.
According to the story, under media pressure, the Qatari government did an investigation into the labor practices of the work camps. It came out with some shocking information.
It concluded this week that there have been 964 deaths of migrant workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh in 2012 and 2013 alone.
It should be noted that the number came from the government's own investigation, so the actual number is potentially much higher then that. According to the story, most of the workers on the stadiums are impossibly poor migrant workers from surrounding countries. These workers are so desperate that they take out a loan to pay a recruitment company to place them with a job in Qatar.
Once in Qatar the workers are placed with a construction company. They have to live where they are told. They can't drive a car. Their passports are taken from them, effectively forcing them to remain on the job until their boss says they are done. They can't quit even if they could pay their recruitment loan off. It's called the kafala system.
Most of the deaths come from cardiac arrest and from construction accidents, but there are also indicators that suicide is also a big problem in the camps.
Sepp Blatter recently admitted that putting the world cup in Qatar was a mistake. Why? Because the Qatar summer was going to be too hot for soccer.
The mistake Blatter was referring to, it wanted to make clear in a press release, was thinking it was a good idea to host a summer soccer tournament in a country where the average temperature in July is 107 degrees and highs routinely push into the 120s. Apparently Blatter was previously unaware that it gets hot in the Middle East during July. They should probably hold it in the winter, he was saying.
So Sepp Blatter is worried about getting a sunburn. Or maybe that the air conditioning in his motorcade won't be powerful enough. Or, well, who the hell knows what he's concerned about?
The author makes a point at the end of the article saying that FIFA and the World Cup are so powerful that they don't have to fear these atrocities getting out, because they expect the public and politicians from powerful nations to ignore this problem. The World Cup is still 8 years away, so a lot can change, but personally, I don't think Qatar is going to be able to hold onto this tournament for much longer.