As a complete irony of Qatar’s constant investments in developmental projects worldwide, its migrant workers are living in deplorable conditions.

One such incident that has come into focus is the condition of migrant workers working round the clock towards the completion of stadiums in anticipation of the FIFA World Cup 2022. Under the media investigations of the German broadcaster, it was discovered that most of these migrants consist of Nepalis.

The media broadcaster has revealed a video showing how Nepali worker had been found to be living without money or food, in cramped spaces and prison-like conditions.

These workers have been working on World Cup projects for Design Maintenance, a sub-contractor for the Al Thumama Stadium, which is a 40,000-seat stadium located 12 kilometers south of Doha, the capital city.

Qatar is building nine new stadiums and renovating three others for the FIFA World Cup. It has come under a flurry of international scrutiny and criticism for its treatment and exploitation of its nearly 2 million migrant laborers.

In 2013, an investigation by the British Guardian newspaper had uncovered similar working and living conditions of migrant workers, calling them World Cup ‘slaves’. It predicted 4,000 migrant deaths by the time the project would be completed.

Previously, Amnesty International had also confirmed that most migrant workers were being paid a pittance to build stadiums ahead of the 2022 World Cup. The army of migrant workers is said to be paid merely 82p an hour which doesn’t come anywhere near to the promised pay of £158 each month for a 48 hour working time table.

This is the state of migrant workers; worst than those you could imagine in a concentration camp. Most of these workers have expressed dissatisfaction of not being paid overtime, delayed payments, and despicable living conditions. Qatar had promised to overcome its tactics of exploitation in 2017 when it had capped the minimum salary to QR 750 per month, but reality hasn’t changed too from then.