Right now, hundreds of workers are laboring in appalling conditions in Qatar — all for the sake of a sports spectacle that is still six years away.
World Cup stadium workers lack even the most basic worker protections. And as construction ramps up to include more than 30,000 workers before the first kick, rights violations are piling up.
Under the small Middle Eastern country's kafala system, these migrant laborers are legally bound to their employers. Abuse and exploitation is common: work is forced, wages are stolen and workers live in squalid, overcrowded conditions. Workers can be deported at their employer's whim and employers routinely confiscate passports and deny exit visas to prevent workers from returning to their home countries.
Despite promising five years ago to address rampant labor abuses, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the government of Qatar have done little to enforce labor rights or end human rights violations tied to construction projects for the 2022 World Cup.
FIFA has the power to pressure Qatar's government to respect labor standards, but the organization needs to hear from you. Only with a massive and sustained effort, can we stop the forced exploitation of World Cup workers.
Help protect human rights. Please sign this important petition now to speak out for abused World Cup workers in Qatar.
Mr. Infantino,
I strongly urge the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to hold Qatar accountable for its miserable treatment of laborers working to prepare Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.
Despite FIFA's promise five years ago to ensure at least minimal labor protections for the hundreds of workers who have travelled to Qatar to prepare for the World Cup, human rights advocates have demonstrated ongoing labor abuses, including:
* Forced labor;
* Wage theft;
* The denial of exit visas and confiscation of workers' passports by their employers; and
* Squalid, overcrowded living conditions.
It is within your power to reject such exploitation of the workers preparing for your event. Please do everything in you can to ensure that the government of Qatar makes good on its promises to address ongoing labor and human rights violations tied to construction and improvement projects for the 2022 World Cup.
[Your comments]
Sincerely,
[Your name]
