Amnesty International: The working conditions of security guards in Qatar are comparable to forced labor

Amnesty International reiterated that foreign workers in Qatar are being mistreated, noting that the working conditions of security guards, including projects related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, can be compared to “forced labor.”

In today’s report, the organization quoted 34 current and former employees of eight private security companies, who are migrant workers mainly from Kenya and Uganda, as saying that they are forced to work for more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week, sometimes in direct sunlight without shade or potable water during the hottest months.

According to the testimonies collected by the report, the working conditions and wages of security guards in Qatar vary according to the countries they come from. Those who suffer from the worst situation are those from sub-Saharan Africa.

“You can’t complain otherwise you will be fired and deported from the country,” said one of the employees interviewed.

The conditions of foreign workers in projects related to the 2022 World Cup have been criticized by many organizations, especially in terms of the conditions in which they work and the lack of access to their rights, as reports showed the death of many of them as a result of hard working conditions.

Inas Abdulkareem