THE high number of deaths that have resulted from the ongoing construction of stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, has put the Gulf state under harsh global scrutiny.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) is calling for new laws to protect construction staff from working in life-threatening conditions, with over 800,000 migrant workers potentially being subjected to working outside in scorching heat.

The current regulations prohibit outdoor work from 11.30am to 3pm between June 15 and August 31 but the HRW says that due to the region’s climate, these procedures aren’t sufficient.

“Enforcing appropriate restrictions on outdoor work and regularly investigating and publicising information about worker deaths is essential to protect the health and lives of construction workers in Qatar,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch’s Middle East director.

“Limiting work hours to safe temperatures — not set by a clock or calendar — is well within the capacity of the Qatari government and will help protect hundreds of thousands of workers.”

In contrast to Qatar’s poor working laws, last year the Supreme Committee World Cup organisers introduced mandated work-to-rest ratios for 12,000 of the workers building the World Cup stadiums, receiving praise from the HRW.

“If Qatar’s World Cup organisers can mandate a climate-based work ban, then the Qatar government can follow its lead as a step towards providing better protection from heat for all workers,” Whitson said.



In response to the human rights concerns the Assistant Secretary General for Tournament Affairs, Nasser Al Khater, told news.com.au that the committee hopes to use the tournament as a platform for improving conditions for migrant workers.

“We are fully committed to ensuring the health, safety and dignity of every worker who comes to Qatar to help us deliver the tournament. We have never shrunk from constructive criticism,” he said.

“We have always wanted to use the tournament as a catalyst to drive positive change for working conditions throughout the Gulf.”

Mr Khater added that they have already seen a lot of positive change since they won hosting rights in 2010.

According to a report published by the International Trades Union Confederation (ITUC) approximately 1200 workers have already died since the World Cup was awarded to Qatar in 2010.

To put that number in perspective the ITUC also revealed the amount of workers killed in the lead up to other major sporting events around the world.

The next highest number of deaths were from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics with 60 people killed and the 2004 Athens Olympics with 40 killed.

Ten workers died before the 2010 Beijing Olympics and seven were killed while working in construction for the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

There were zero construction fatalities for the 2012 London Olympics and one death for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The ITUC predicts that there will be at least 4000 worker fatalities by the time the 2022 FIFA World Cup begins.