Hundreds of migrant workers hired as security guards for last year’s World Cup are still being denied justice for the abuses they suffered despite FIFA and the hosts Qatar being warned that they were especially vulnerable to exploitation and workers raising complaints and protesting about their treatment.
An investigation has found serious labour abuses occurred at the World Cup and were not properly addressed, even though Amnesty International issued a 70-page report in April 2022, which sounded the alarm about systematic and structural labour abuses across the private security sector in Qatar.
“The World Cup organizers were well aware of the issues but failed to put in place adequate measures to protect workers and prevent predictable labour abuses at World Cup sites, even after workers raised these issues directly,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice.
“It’s six months since the tournament concluded but FIFA and Qatar have yet to offer an effective and accessible scheme to enable abused workers to receive the justice and compensation they are owed. FIFA must now step in and offer immediate and meaningful remediation for the human rights abuses suffered by workers.”
The investigation shows that marshals and security guards, who worked at FIFA World Cup sites and were contracted to Teyseer Security Services, a Qatar-based company, suffered a range of work-related harms and abuses.
These included the workers paying unlawful recruitment fees and other related costs, and being given misleading statements about the terms and conditions of their employment. At the end of their temporary contracts, workers said they had no option but to return home, effectively denying them recourse to any remedy or compensation.
More than a third of the men interviewed, especially those employed as marshals, said they had to work 12 hours every day and worked for up to 38 consecutive days without a day off, or adequate pay to reflect this extra work, which breaches Qatari law. Their duties often required them to stand for many hours without sitting down, and to deal with large crowds after matches without adequate training and support.
These abuses led many of Teyseer’s workers to protest on multiple occasions while they were in Qatar. Some told Amnesty International they reported their treatment on the World Cup Grievances Hotline in November, but that no action was taken. One worker said a manager threatened to fire him and others in retaliation for complaining, and warned them not to report issues again.
Days before their contracts expired in early January, hundreds of marshals staged a protest demanding their dues, including unpaid overtime and a bonus they said had been promised on completion of their duties.
Following this protest, workers said that representatives of both Teyseer and the government promised they would be compensated, a pledge that has not been honoured.
According to some of those interviewed, Teyseer representatives threatened unspecified “action” if the men failed to leave Qatar on flights arranged by the company, or were told they would have to pay for a new air ticket. The men said hundreds had to leave Qatar without compensation.
