Qatar: migrant workers and the World Cup - European Parliament hearing tomorrow

Amnesty expert James Lynch available for interview

 

Amnesty International’s expert on conditions for migrant workers in Qatar - James Lynch - is addressing the European Parliament’s subcommittee on human rights tomorrow, as part of the committee’s session on sport and human rights - with a focus on the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

 

A member of FIFA’s executive committee will also be addressing the hearing.

 

Mr Lynch will brief committee members on Amnesty’s research into widespread and routine abuse of migrant workers in Qatar.  In November, Amnesty published a 166-page report - The Dark Side of Migration: Spotlight on Qatar’s construction sector ahead of the World Cup - documenting a range of abuses against migrant workers, including non-payment of wages, harsh and dangerous working conditions, and shocking standards of accommodation. 

 

Meanwhile, yesterday, Qatar’s World Cup organising committee published a “Workers’ Charter” of welfare standards for migrants workers in the country. Amnesty responded by saying that this was a “starting point” for wider reform, but called for the organising committee to provide more information about how it would enforce the standards. The charter would, in any case, only apply to workers involved in the construction of World Cup stadia and training grounds - a relatively small proportion of Qatar’s vast migrant worker population - and not to the hundreds of thousands of people who will be building the key transport infrastructure to support the staging of the World Cup.

 

James Lynch is available for interview after his appearance at tomorrow’s committee session (8.00-9.30am UK time).

 

Please contact the Amnesty International UK media team to arrange an interview.