The Guardian revealed that more than 6,500 migrant workers had died in Qatar over the past decade
Lionel Messi entered the Olympus of legendary Maradona after he lifted the glittering World Cup on December 18 at the Lusail Stadium. Argentina beat the favourites, France, on penalty shootout in one of the most exciting finals of the World Cup, their first World Cup win after 36 years. That formally concluded the 22nd edition of the World Cup in Qatar, the first to be held in an Arab state. Despite all the pre-tournament controversies, Qatar successfully organised the most watched and followed sporting event on the planet.
During this World Cup, the spectators witnessed the rise of the 'Atlas lions' - Morocco - to the highest level. The underdogs convincingly crushed the powerhouses of European football - the likes of Spain, Portugal and Belgium - en route to the semifinals, the first African team to achieve this feat. The French dominance spearheaded by Mbappe throughout the tournament was mentionable.
The mediocre performance of one of the most consistent teams, Germany, shattered the hopes of German fans to relive World Cup glory. Messi's never fading dribbling craftsmanship on the ground was a treat to the eyes. The teary World Cup farewell of one of the world's greatest players, Ronaldo, left his fans heartbroken.
The news and real-time happenings of the World Cup filled the pages of newspapers and tabloids throughout the world. All 32 participating teams gained the global limelight over 29 days. In this endeavour, sadly, the 33rd team of this World Cup was deliberately ignored.
No one thought of remembering and officially felicitating this team during the event.
Yes, the 33rd team! This sounds awkward, as everyone knows that there were only 32 teams participating in the World Cup in Qatar.
From where did this 33rd team spontaneously emerge? Well, this team did not appear suddenly, but the team became a part of the World Cup in 2010, shortly after Qatar won the bid for hosting the World Cup. Hence, the existence of the 33rd team of this World Cup is the longest as compared to other 32 teams. Still, the team was ignored and almost forgotten throughout the World Cup proceedings.
The team that is discussed here is not any conventional football team with 11 players, but this is the team of more than two million migrant workers.
The team that has shaped the physical amenities for the World Cup from scratch; be they the five gigantic stadiums, new international airport, new highways or the opulent hotels intended to accommodate the guests during the tournament.
Once Qatar was confirmed as the venue of World Cup 2022, the nation embarked on an unprecedented building programme, largely in preparation for the World Cup.
For that, Qatar recruited millions of skilled and unskilled migrant workers, a large portion of which constituted construction-site labourers. Over the last 12 years, the team of migrant workers had toiled day and night to make this mega-sporting event a grand success.
During the last decade, more than two million migrant workers, mainly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, were reported to have been deployed in construction and security jobs in Qatar.
Official statistics show that, every year, an average of 200,000 Nepali labourers had gone to Qatar during this period. Many human rights groups were constantly vocal regarding the inhumane treatment of these workers that included unsafe conditions at work, deaths due to the extreme heat as well as physical and financial exploitation by the employers. The main reason behind this mishap is believed to be the Kafala system, under which migrant workers are hired in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. This system requires all migrant workers to have an in-state sponsor who takes care of their visa, work contracts, accommodation and legal status. This is where the labourers fall in the trap of so-called modern day slavery.
The sponsor dictates the terms and conditions, which sometimes cross the boundaries of humanity.
Nevertheless, Qatar has claimed that they had reformed the traditional Kafala system for recruiting workers for the World Cup-related constructions.
A detailed analysis published in The Guardian revealed that more than 6,500 migrant workers had died in Qatar over the past decade; out of those, 1,641 were Nepali citizens. However, the Government of Qatar conveyed that only three workers died in workplace accidents related to the construction of new stadiums for the World Cup, along with 37 other stadium workers who died outside the workplace during that time.
They argue that accident rates at the stadiums are comparable to others around the world.
However, various human rights organisations differ from this statement as they claim that many deaths were neither investigated nor documented. This is strengthened by the fact that an average of 21 corpses per month were returned to Nepal from the GCC states, including Qatar, over the last decade.
Unfortunately, neither the Government of Qatar nor our government authorities seemed to be seriously concerned in addressing the issues of migrant workers.
After the successful organisation of the World Cup, Qatar is facing renewed calls from migrant workers, families of deceased workers and rights groups to compensate for the human rights abuses, including physical and financial exploitation, injuries and uninvestigated deaths.
Recently, many Nepali civil society organisations had released an open letter addressed to FIFA President Infantino, urging him to mediate the due compensation to Nepali construction workers exploited and abused in Qatar.
Hopefully, the Government of Qatar and FIFA will consider these issues seriously, and the legitimate pleas of the heroes who made this World Cup a grand successful will be addressed.
This will be the fitting tribute to the 33rd team of this World Cup.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 26, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
