Human rights groups warn of the death of migrant workers

Human rights groups warn of an “increase” of the death of migrant construction workers in Saudi Arabia because they are preparing to align the World Cup in 2034.

According to Human Rights Watch and Fairquare, which have published both reports today, workers die from avoidable accidents at the country.

Due to natural causes, many such deaths are incorrectly classified, and the families of employees are not compensated, the reports say.

Both groups have asked the Saudi authorities to ensure the basic security protection for the country's enormous workforce.

“The Saudi World Cup 2034 will be the greatest and most expensive of all time, but it could also have the highest costs in human life, since millions of hiking workers build an infrastructure, including 11 new stadiums, a railway and transit network, and 185,000 hotel rooms,” and Minky, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch.

The warnings come a day after the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, visited the country together with Donald Trump and visited a US -Saudi investment forum.

FIFA – The global management body of football – says that he has an “unshakable commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights in the context of his operations”.

But the Human Rights Watch accused the FIFA not to learn any lessons from Migrant Worker's deaths in the run -up to the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

Data on deaths on migrants are in a country where human rights groups have only very limited access and unions are prohibited.

But Human Rights Watch interviewed the families of 31 workers from Bangladesh, India and Nepal, which fell from the heights, crushed or decapitated by heavy machines.

Warmth is another important problem, since Saudi Arabia increases the construction work to prepare for the orientation of the 2034 tournament.

In March, a Pakistani foreman, Muhammad Arshad, is said to have fallen from a building location in a stadium in the eastern city of Al Khobar – the first death in connection with the World Cup.

Last year, the Saudi government said that “tangible achievements” made it professionally in terms of health and security, with death and injuries.

The FIFA also praised “significant steps” of Saudi Arabia to reform its work laws since 2018.

But the global construction workers' union, BWI, said that there was an “alarming increase” in the event of accidents that can be prevented.

“This is the result of systematic negligence, corruption and insufficient supervision and accountability,” said the general secretary of the BWI, Ambet Yuson.

And according to fairsquare, Saudi medical authorities rarely carry out autopsia to determine the exact cause of the deaths of migrant workers.

“Hundreds of thousands of young men, of whom many young families have, are thrown into a work system that is a serious risk for their lives, a medical system that does not have the ability to determine the cause of their death, and a political system that they do not seem to protect or find out how they have died, let alone the families that were shattered by Saudi Arabia, through Saudi Arabia neglect, “said Fairsquare Co-Director.

He described FIFA's human rights policy as “appearance”.

“While the FIFA Saudi Arabia praises the rafters and highly paid western law firms made great profits to curate Saudi Arabia's reputation, children grow up in places like Nepal without their fathers and never learn how they died, he said.”

The FIFA announced Human Rights Watch that it would like to set up a welfare system for employees that is devoted to mandatory standards and assertiveness for the provision of World Cup construction and services in Saudi Arabia.

In a letter it says: “We are convinced that the measures that have been carried out in order to respect the construction companies to the rights of their employees to FIFA World Cup locations, determine a new standard for the protection of the employee in the country and contribute to the broader work reform process, which increases the protection for employees at World Cup locations and beyond.”

But Human Rights Watch said that no further details were given on how the welfare system would work.

“The Saudi authorities, FIFA and other employers should ensure that all deaths of migrant employees, regardless of the perceived cause, time and place, are properly examined and that families deceased workers are treated with dignity and receive fair and timely compensation,” said the group.

The BBC has contacted the Saudi authorities to get a comment.