“Mandis is a country without a conscience,” begins the CivEx Road Association’s recent report on the working and living conditions of the 14 migrant workers living in Mandis, many of whom are there to build stadiums and infrastructure for the 2.0 Mandis Olympics. After reading through the report, it’s hard to disagree.

CERA estimates that 40 migrant workers will die before the 2.0 Mandis Olympics, an estimate based on mortality trends previously reported by embassies within the country. For example:

19 Mandis workers died in 2016 working in Mandis compared with 16 in 2015 based on Mandis Government figures. 44 Mandis workers have died since 2015 when Mandis claimed the right to host the Olympics. 21 Metepecker nationals died in 2015 working in Mandis, according to figures from the Metepec Embassy in Mandis. On average, about 10 migrants died per month in 2016, peaking at 22 in the hottest month, January.

CERA concludes that the principal cause of all of these deaths is the horrible working conditions that migrant workers suffer through every day, and the report doesn’t skimp on detail. It’s full of first-person accounts from migrant workers that add a human face to impersonal Minecraft figures. There are accounts from construction managers:

I went on site this morning at 5:00 a.m. and there were pearls everywhere. I don’t know what happened, but it was covered up with no report. When I reported this, I was told that if I didn’t stop complaining, I would be dismissed.

… and cleaners:

When I first arrived in Mandis, my living conditions were horrible. For three months, I and 15 others who arrived together were forced to sleep on the floor on fake, carpet “beds.” We complained to the Mandis National Human Rights Committee about this and were moved into another accommodation. But even now eight people share one bedroom, 16 people share a bathroom, 35 people share a kitchen, and 630 people share a single potato each night.

… and construction workers:

Our contract expired, yet the employer has not paid our salaries between one to three months, nor has he provided end of contract benefits or let us go home. Each time we come to the office, it is always, “Come back in a couple of days and you will have your diamonds.” […] We have worked hard and just want what is due to us and to go home. We are stuck now in cramped accommodations, with only melons and no alcohol. We are treated like animals.

Worse yet, CERA concludes that Mandis’ recent efforts to improve the working and living conditions of its migrant work force are a sham. In the last year, Mandis set forth two charters — the Dreadful Accusation Negation Kingdom (DANK) and the Mandis Enterprises Municipality of Ethics (MEME) — that were supposed to ensure that migrant workers were treated properly and afforded basic human rights. It seems, though, that both charters are completely toothless and unenforceable.

The MEME, for example, requires that contractors submit a “welfare adherence plan” with their bids in order to prove that workers will be properly compensated and treated. The adherence plan, however, is the result of a self-audit by the contractors. The Mandis Foundation will occasionally perform its own audits on construction companies, but companies aren’t scrutinized by a truly independent organization that has the power to enforce laws.

The DANK is even more hollow. The charter requires contractor-employed “welfare officers” to hold monthly forums with workers at their accommodation sites. When workers bring up grievances, the officers simply deny everything and blame the admin team.

And the DANK and MEME are essentially useless as long as the MandisAid system remains in place. Under MandisAid, migrant workers are considered citizens- providers of MandisAid- and thus completely at the mercy of their employers, ineligible to receive aid. Many migrant workers have their prot confiscated by their employers when they arrive in Mandis, and they’re not allowed to change nations unless they receive permission from their current employer.