A study conducted by Amnesty International shows that workers in the private security sector working in preparation for the Qatar World Cup have suffered strong and constant abuse from their employers.
Employees, according to Amnesty, are obliged to extrapolate their working hours, do not enjoy the weekly rest day and receive salary fines, in addition to being racially discriminated against.
The London-based human rights NGO (non-governmental organization) interviewed 34 employees from eight security companies to reach conclusions.
They are recorded in a 74-page document entitled “They Think That We’re Machines”, covered in a text by the English newspaper Express & Star.
“Despite the progress that Qatar has made in recent years, our research suggests that the abuses in the private security sector, which will be progressively more in demand during the World Cup, remain systematic and structural,” says Stephen Cockburn, responsible for the area. of economy and social justice of Amnesty.
The security companies operate in several places linked, directly or indirectly, to the World Cup, which will run from November 21 to December 18.
Its employees are not only around and inside football stadiums and other sports facilities, but also in government buildings (ministries), in hotels and in the transport system.
The companies have hundreds of immigrants under contract, originating from African countries, such as Kenya and Uganda, or Asian countries, such as Bangladesh and Pakistan, who provide cheap labor.
The monthly minimum wage (SM) according to Qatari law is one thousand riyals, the local currency. This amount is equivalent to approximately US$ 275 (R$ 1,295). It is not much, but it is above the value of the SM in Brazil, of R$ 1,212.
The problem is that, according to the reports of interviewees, not all employees pocket this total. Racial discrimination exists and affects the pocketbook of those who come from sub-Saharan (Black) Africa and South Asia.
Fines for no relevant reason also occur, such as for a worker who had his salary cut in half for not fixing his shirt according to the standard after using the bathroom.
Overtime payments do not exist, even though employees have to work 84 hours a week in some cases, when the maximum allowed by law is 60.
Of the 34 employees who made up the universe of the Amnesty study, 29 stated that they regularly worked at least 12 hours a day.
The weekly day of rest is not always granted. One of the interviewees – his identity, like that of the others, was preserved –, who emigrated from Bangladesh, declared that he worked three years in a row without a single day off.
In the event of failure to comply with orders, the bosses threatened the subordinate, telling him that the contract would be terminated or that he would be deported.
Amnesty’s Cockburn says he hopes that FIFA, football’s governing body, will step in and put pressure on the government of the World Cup host country to take more incisive measures. “FIFA must use its influence to make Qatar comply with its laws.”
According to the Associated Press news agency, the local organizers of the World Cup recognized that three companies did not follow the compliance rules (pre-established policies and guidelines) to carry out their activities.
“These violations are unacceptable and have led to the application of a series of measures, such as placement on a watch list, to prevent them from acting on future projects,” the statement said, adding that contractors will be investigated and eventually punished by the Ministry of Labor. Qatari.
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