Ellen Hughes is a third-year undergraduate student studying Anthropology and International Development at the University of Sussex.
The Kafala system, a sponsorship-based labour structure prevailing in multiple Middle Eastern countries, has long been criticized as a tool for exploitation, with Qatar exemplifying one of its most extreme forms. As preparations for the 2022 World Cup unfolded, migrant workers faced deteriorating conditions, while the international community only offered fleeting attention to rampant human rights abuses. Promised reforms were inadequate, leaving workers with little protection or recourse.
Derived from the Arabic word “kafula,” meaning “to take care of” or “to guarantee,” the Kafala system binds workers (makfūl) to their sponsors (kafeel). In theory, employers provide accommodation, meals, and pay under temporary visas, but in practice, this relationship often fosters dependency and exploitation.
On paper, the kafala system is a well thought out plan that allows several key issues to be addressed simultaneously. Its use of temporary work visas provides control surrounding over-migration and higher economic flexibility, as the onus moves away from the government and onto the sponsor. If there is no work available, there are no sponsorships or visas available. Privatizing visas not only decreases waiting times for approval but also prevents migrants from overstaying their board as employers will not want to pay them not to do work.
Qatar was named the location of the 2022 World Cup in December of 2010, becoming the first country in the Middle East to be named a host. Qatar spared no cost, spending upwards of $220 billion on revitalising the city, building several stadiums, a new metro system, and renovating multiple hotels and the Airport. Due to the extreme lengths Qatar went to in preparation for the World Cup, the kafala system was more prevalent than ever, with 90% of the Qatari workforce comprising of migrant labourers.
Immediately, human rights organisations began to shed light on the mistreatment that migrant workers were receiving to have the country ready to host in time. International objection could be seen from celebrities like Joe Lycett and Dua Lipa, who spoke out about their discouragement and lack of involvement towards the World Cup. Regardless of the global opinion, FIFA continued to wash their hands of the role it played in the exploitation of the workers. Theo Zwanziger, an executive of FIFA, said “What do you expect of a football organisation? FIFA is not the lawmaker in Qatar”. FIFA brought in a revenue of 7.5 billion USD and Qatar grossed 1.56 billion USD. This made the 2022 World Cup- as said by Minky Worden, “the highest grossing World Cup for FIFA and the deadliest event in the history of world sport.” By 2018, over 1200 deaths had been associated with the construction of the stadiums, although this number is likely far higher.
The Cost of the World Cup: Worker Exploitation
Workers were required to use private agencies to connect with sponsors in Qatar, with fees reaching as high as US$4,300. This forced many hopeful migrants to take out loans, with the belief that they would quickly repay the debt once they started their jobs. After leaving their families behind, workers were often placed in overcrowded accommodations, in which they would share a room with up to eight other individuals. Although regulations set welfare standards that limit occupancy to four individuals per room, these rules were rarely enforced.
The most prevalent form of exploitation within the Kafala system stems from the deceitfulness surrounding workers’ pay. Potential labour migrants often invest in the kafala system with the promise to make significantly more than what they would make in their origin country. However, once workers arrive at their host country, they often receive less than half of what they were initially promised and may not receive their pay for several months. This leaves workers in a far worse scenario in which they cannot send any money to their families back home or pay back the initial loan taken out to pay the agency.
Many labour migrants were unable to leave the stadium they were constructing as their employers refused to complete their resident ID; a form that only the sponsor can complete. If caught, these workers would have been fined or imprisoned, thus isolating them from a life outside the stadium. Moreover, workers must have an “exit permit” in order to go home or to another job site, which must also be approved by their sponsor. In many cases, workers were threatened to not be granted permission to go home and may not see their family until their contract is up. The kafeel will often take their passports on arrival to prevent them from fleeing, further immobilising them.
Finally, the criminalisation of “absconding” legally reinforces forced labour as workers are threatened with jail time, deportation, or heavy fines if they try to flee their sponsor before their contract is over.
The Human Toll of Construction – Surendra’s Story
Surendra Tamang was one of the many men who believed the World Cup being in Qatar was a dream come true. In 2015, Surendra took out a loan to pay an agency and signed a contract for six years at a construction site of one of the stadiums. He aimed to send money back home and have enough saved to buy himself a ticket to one of the matches in the stadium he built. However, Surendra never made it to the match and was instead sent home with gastritis in October of 2021. When he arrived home, the hospital deemed both of his kidneys to be failing due to the long hours in extreme heat. Likely to be on dialysis for the remainder of his life, Surendra was one of the many individuals whose lives were catastrophically ruined in the lead up to the World Cup. Surendra endured years of headaches, nose bleeds, fainting spells, vomiting and cramping as he worked every day in temperatures as high as 44.4°C. Despite the Qatari government requiring that the workers were on break around midday, it is cases like these that make you question whether the employers truly followed through with it or not and whether it did any good considering the humidity reached 70%, even in the early hours of the day.
An intersectional lens help us better understand which groups are most vulnerable within the Kafala system, and the ways in which they are subject to exploitation. In the context of constructing for the world cup, male workers were predominately targeted; leaving female workers to occupy domestic roles where they faced the highest levels of sexual abuse. Reports indicate a staggering 600% increase in potential sex trafficking victims arriving from Africa to the Gulf states. Furthermore, there is a large racial bias rooted within the system in which the hierarchy sees workers coming from African and Asian countries as those disproportionality assigned to ‘4-D jobs’ (dirty, demanding, dangerous and difficult). This racialized hierarchy fosters a sense of “otherness, generating a certain level of detachment between the kafeel and makfūl, ultimately reinforcing the workers expendability and exacerbating their exploitation.
Illusionary Reforms
In light of the criticism Qatar had faced in the lead up to the World Cup, the Government implemented several reforms in order to protect the labour migrants and tackle the corruption surrounding the Kafala system. However, these amendments feature many flaws, and as the media exposure surrounding the World Cup dims, workers are left to face the exploitation of the kafala system alone.
The kafala system, overseen by internal ministries rather than labour ministries, removed any workers’ rights to unionise or present litigations about their working environments. Thenceforth, workers were essentially in the possession of the sponsor rather than the Government, leaving them largely unprotected and in a grey area in regard to legislation between the origin and host state.
In 2018, as an attempt to give back marginal power to the workers, Qatar was the first country to abolish the aforementioned “exit permit”. Although this seems promising, many employers still confiscate passports upon the workers’ arrival. With little reinforcement on the government’s behalf, many migrants were continuously threatened with the punishment of absconding, undermining the reform. Furthermore, the workers were required to give their employer 72 hours of notice to leave Qatar, a process unlikely to reassure those who are being sexually or physically abused and fear backlash.
In 2020, a minimum wage was introduced in Qatar for all workers, regardless of their nationality. The minimum wage was increased from 750 QAR (US$250) to 1,000 QAR (US$274). In addition, if employers were not providing accommodation or meals, the minimum wage must be 1800 QAR (US$494). Most workers sign up for the kafala system hoping to send remittances home and provide for their family from abroad. Migrant-Rights.org finds this amount too low to achieve this goal, including stating that workers cannot live a good quality standard of life, or make any savings for future retirement. It is not sustainable. Workers continued to get delayed payments and once again, due to a lack of reinforcement from the Qatari government, the minimum wage was not followed.
Lastly, in 2022 Qatar allowed workers to change jobs at any point throughout their contract. The government moved the onus of the repayments from the workers onto the two employers. If a worker wishes to change jobs during the probationary period (which is legally not allowed to exceed six months), their new employer must reimburse the old employer the wage of the employee for the remaining probational months. However, this reform created new barriers, as employers often refuse to hire workers with pending fees, forcing workers to either remain with their original employer or go home. If in the case an employer did accept the worker, they may refuse salary until their “debt” is paid off, continuing the financial exploitation present between the kafeel and makfūl.
Qatar has employed the kafala system since the 1950’s, but the 2022 World Cup severely exacerbated the exploitative nature to unprecedented levels. The desire for a spectacle allowed safety and labour procedures to be overlooked, and with tight deadlines taking priority over basic human rights. FIFA’s indifference and the fleeting attention of the global community allowed these abuses to persist. Now as the excitement of the World Cup fades, will the world honour the workers whose sacrifices made it a reality, or will their struggles be forgotten? The responsibility sadly rests on us to ensure their voices are heard and to demand meaningful accountability.
This blog has been submitted as part of course work for the module Mobilities and Global Inequalities.
The True Cost of the 2022 World Cup: How Qatar’s Migrant Workers Paid the Price
Ellen Hughes is a third-year undergraduate student studying Anthropology and International Development at the University of Sussex.
The Kafala system, a sponsorship-based labour structure prevailing in multiple Middle Eastern countries, has long been criticized as a tool for exploitation, with Qatar exemplifying one of its most extreme forms. As preparations for the 2022 World Cup unfolded, migrant workers faced deteriorating conditions, while the international community only offered fleeting attention to rampant human rights abuses. Promised reforms were inadequate, leaving workers with little protection or recourse.
The History Behind the Exploitation
Derived from the Arabic word “kafula,” meaning “to take care of” or “to guarantee,” the Kafala system binds workers (makfūl) to their sponsors (kafeel). In theory, employers provide accommodation, meals, and pay under temporary visas, but in practice, this relationship often fosters dependency and exploitation.
On paper, the kafala system is a well thought out plan that allows several key issues to be addressed simultaneously. Its use of temporary work visas provides control surrounding over-migration and higher economic flexibility, as the onus moves away from the government and onto the sponsor. If there is no work available, there are no sponsorships or visas available. Privatizing visas not only decreases waiting times for approval but also prevents migrants from overstaying their board as employers will not want to pay them not to do work.
Qatar was named the location of the 2022 World Cup in December of 2010, becoming the first country in the Middle East to be named a host. Qatar spared no cost, spending upwards of $220 billion on revitalising the city, building several stadiums, a new metro system, and renovating multiple hotels and the Airport. Due to the extreme lengths Qatar went to in preparation for the World Cup, the kafala system was more prevalent than ever, with 90% of the Qatari workforce comprising of migrant labourers.
Immediately, human rights organisations began to shed light on the mistreatment that migrant workers were receiving to have the country ready to host in time. International objection could be seen from celebrities like Joe Lycett and Dua Lipa, who spoke out about their discouragement and lack of involvement towards the World Cup. Regardless of the global opinion, FIFA continued to wash their hands of the role it played in the exploitation of the workers. Theo Zwanziger, an executive of FIFA, said “What do you expect of a football organisation? FIFA is not the lawmaker in Qatar”. FIFA brought in a revenue of 7.5 billion USD and Qatar grossed 1.56 billion USD. This made the 2022 World Cup- as said by Minky Worden, “the highest grossing World Cup for FIFA and the deadliest event in the history of world sport.” By 2018, over 1200 deaths had been associated with the construction of the stadiums, although this number is likely far higher.
The Cost of the World Cup: Worker Exploitation
Workers were required to use private agencies to connect with sponsors in Qatar, with fees reaching as high as US$4,300. This forced many hopeful migrants to take out loans, with the belief that they would quickly repay the debt once they started their jobs. After leaving their families behind, workers were often placed in overcrowded accommodations, in which they would share a room with up to eight other individuals. Although regulations set welfare standards that limit occupancy to four individuals per room, these rules were rarely enforced.
The most prevalent form of exploitation within the Kafala system stems from the deceitfulness surrounding workers’ pay. Potential labour migrants often invest in the kafala system with the promise to make significantly more than what they would make in their origin country. However, once workers arrive at their host country, they often receive less than half of what they were initially promised and may not receive their pay for several months. This leaves workers in a far worse scenario in which they cannot send any money to their families back home or pay back the initial loan taken out to pay the agency.
Many labour migrants were unable to leave the stadium they were constructing as their employers refused to complete their resident ID; a form that only the sponsor can complete. If caught, these workers would have been fined or imprisoned, thus isolating them from a life outside the stadium. Moreover, workers must have an “exit permit” in order to go home or to another job site, which must also be approved by their sponsor. In many cases, workers were threatened to not be granted permission to go home and may not see their family until their contract is up. The kafeel will often take their passports on arrival to prevent them from fleeing, further immobilising them.
Finally, the criminalisation of “absconding” legally reinforces forced labour as workers are threatened with jail time, deportation, or heavy fines if they try to flee their sponsor before their contract is over.
The Human Toll of Construction – Surendra’s Story
Surendra Tamang was one of the many men who believed the World Cup being in Qatar was a dream come true. In 2015, Surendra took out a loan to pay an agency and signed a contract for six years at a construction site of one of the stadiums. He aimed to send money back home and have enough saved to buy himself a ticket to one of the matches in the stadium he built. However, Surendra never made it to the match and was instead sent home with gastritis in October of 2021. When he arrived home, the hospital deemed both of his kidneys to be failing due to the long hours in extreme heat. Likely to be on dialysis for the remainder of his life, Surendra was one of the many individuals whose lives were catastrophically ruined in the lead up to the World Cup. Surendra endured years of headaches, nose bleeds, fainting spells, vomiting and cramping as he worked every day in temperatures as high as 44.4°C. Despite the Qatari government requiring that the workers were on break around midday, it is cases like these that make you question whether the employers truly followed through with it or not and whether it did any good considering the humidity reached 70%, even in the early hours of the day.
An intersectional lens help us better understand which groups are most vulnerable within the Kafala system, and the ways in which they are subject to exploitation. In the context of constructing for the world cup, male workers were predominately targeted; leaving female workers to occupy domestic roles where they faced the highest levels of sexual abuse. Reports indicate a staggering 600% increase in potential sex trafficking victims arriving from Africa to the Gulf states. Furthermore, there is a large racial bias rooted within the system in which the hierarchy sees workers coming from African and Asian countries as those disproportionality assigned to ‘4-D jobs’ (dirty, demanding, dangerous and difficult). This racialized hierarchy fosters a sense of “otherness, generating a certain level of detachment between the kafeel and makfūl, ultimately reinforcing the workers expendability and exacerbating their exploitation.
Illusionary Reforms
In light of the criticism Qatar had faced in the lead up to the World Cup, the Government implemented several reforms in order to protect the labour migrants and tackle the corruption surrounding the Kafala system. However, these amendments feature many flaws, and as the media exposure surrounding the World Cup dims, workers are left to face the exploitation of the kafala system alone.
The kafala system, overseen by internal ministries rather than labour ministries, removed any workers’ rights to unionise or present litigations about their working environments. Thenceforth, workers were essentially in the possession of the sponsor rather than the Government, leaving them largely unprotected and in a grey area in regard to legislation between the origin and host state.
In 2018, as an attempt to give back marginal power to the workers, Qatar was the first country to abolish the aforementioned “exit permit”. Although this seems promising, many employers still confiscate passports upon the workers’ arrival. With little reinforcement on the government’s behalf, many migrants were continuously threatened with the punishment of absconding, undermining the reform. Furthermore, the workers were required to give their employer 72 hours of notice to leave Qatar, a process unlikely to reassure those who are being sexually or physically abused and fear backlash.
In 2020, a minimum wage was introduced in Qatar for all workers, regardless of their nationality. The minimum wage was increased from 750 QAR (US$250) to 1,000 QAR (US$274). In addition, if employers were not providing accommodation or meals, the minimum wage must be 1800 QAR (US$494). Most workers sign up for the kafala system hoping to send remittances home and provide for their family from abroad. Migrant-Rights.org finds this amount too low to achieve this goal, including stating that workers cannot live a good quality standard of life, or make any savings for future retirement. It is not sustainable. Workers continued to get delayed payments and once again, due to a lack of reinforcement from the Qatari government, the minimum wage was not followed.
Lastly, in 2022 Qatar allowed workers to change jobs at any point throughout their contract. The government moved the onus of the repayments from the workers onto the two employers. If a worker wishes to change jobs during the probationary period (which is legally not allowed to exceed six months), their new employer must reimburse the old employer the wage of the employee for the remaining probational months. However, this reform created new barriers, as employers often refuse to hire workers with pending fees, forcing workers to either remain with their original employer or go home. If in the case an employer did accept the worker, they may refuse salary until their “debt” is paid off, continuing the financial exploitation present between the kafeel and makfūl.
Qatar has employed the kafala system since the 1950’s, but the 2022 World Cup severely exacerbated the exploitative nature to unprecedented levels. The desire for a spectacle allowed safety and labour procedures to be overlooked, and with tight deadlines taking priority over basic human rights. FIFA’s indifference and the fleeting attention of the global community allowed these abuses to persist. Now as the excitement of the World Cup fades, will the world honour the workers whose sacrifices made it a reality, or will their struggles be forgotten? The responsibility sadly rests on us to ensure their voices are heard and to demand meaningful accountability.
This blog has been submitted as part of course work for the module Mobilities and Global Inequalities.
Posted in Migration Comments