slavery
A Bleak Look at the Life of Migrant Workers Building Qatar's World Cup
A Bleak Look at the Life of Migrant Workers Building Qatar's World Cup
Found at Gizmodo.
Here are just a few of the most horrific facts of life for migrant workers at a camp a half-hour drive from Doha, Qatar’s largest city:
No access to toilets or clean water: “There was an overpowering smell of excrement as we arrived. There were no Western-style toilets but holes in the floor. Others washed themselves using buckets of water. Salty water was used for drinking and washing.”
According to a labor representative, employees are more likely to die from heart attacks or heat stress than industrial accidents: “He said men as young as 25 were dying from heart attacks because of their working and living conditions.”
The workers are trapped due to Qatar’s kafala system: “Workers cannot change jobs or leave the country without their boss’s permission. Some revealed that their employers had not paid them for months but they could not change jobs. Many have not seen their families for years.”
And perhaps the most depressing fact: Per capita, Qatar is the richest nation on earth.
And a link to MP Jim Murphy from the Sunday Mail Scotland reporting from Doha.
As we Americans constantly are reminded, more of the rest of the world plays soccer than we play any other sport combined. So where is the world’s outrage over this?
Worst Nightmare: Terror group sells kidnapped girls
(Photo: Afolabi Sotunde / Reuters)
Mothers marched Wednesday in Nigeria to protest government inaction more than two weeks after 200 school girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists.
Rage.
One of those situations that makes me feel so angry, so helpless, and so powerless, so of course those last two only drive the anger more. What can we do? And by “we”, I mean our government? The world’s governments? Anything?
(See what I mean about the helplessness and powerless?)
[youtube www.youtube.com/watch
Each year, around 15,000 migrant domestic workers arrive in the UK on short-term visas to work as cooks, cleaners, housekeepers and nannies for wealthy foreign families. Many of them are women from very poor backgrounds in countries like the Philippines, Morocco, India, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Employers are often drawn from Gulf states, and stay in some of London’s most expensive neighbourhoods. Yet new research published this week by Human Rights Watch shows these workers are being subjected to very serious abuses.
Theresa May Can Make History on Modern Slavery. Will She Go Far Enough?
Report Finds 30 Million Slaves Around The World - International News - redOrbit
Report Finds 30 Million Slaves Around The World - International News - redOrbit
An estimated 30 million people around the world are living as slaves, according to the new Global Slavery Index study.
It's Every Fan's Job to Police FIFA and the Olympics Committee
It's Every Fan's Job to Police FIFA and the Olympics Committee
Neither World Cup nor Olympics authorities seem to mind Qatar’s and Russia’s human rights violations, so it’s up to consumers, players, and sponsors to take action themselves.Yes. This. Call them out.
All the time.
I am not a soccer fan. But I’m a fan of liberty, and no one deserves to live as a slave.
Amnesty International report yet another reminder that Qatar can be horrible, horrible place
Amnesty International report yet another reminder that Qatar can be horrible, horrible place
Among other abuses, 90 percent of Qatar’s 1.35 million foreign workers have their passports withheld by employers.It’s called slavery.
The Dark Side of Migration
Direct link to the Amnesty International report on Qatar’s labor practices in anticipation of the 2022 World Cup in PDF format for download.
The report is the product of three years’ investigation; certainly worth ten minutes to download and skim, if not a bit longer to read.
Slavery is alive and well in the 21st century, and it’s bringing you the World Cup in nine years. What are you going to do about it, futbol fans?
Hey Greg, have you seen The Guardian's report on Nepalese workers slave work in Qatar working on the 2022 world cup?
Yeah.
It’s disgusting, but part of a longstanding problem in the region. Immigrant workers in Dubai have been brought over for years, essentially held hostage, forced to work as slave-labor, beaten or murdered when they try to collect their wages or leave; their communications back home are monitored and censored. And they’ve been dying on worksites, forced to labor without safety equipment or breaks.
It’s slavery. It’s nothing less than slavery, and it’s happening today, and it’s happening all over the world.
It’d be nice if we, as consumers/travelers, and as citizens of our nation holding our government accountable (ha!), could show our displeasure with more than mere words about this travesty. For now, however, like many, I am at a loss as to what that solution looks like, which makes it all the more frustrating.