You reach one of the many forgotten people shortly after work; he is on his way to his accommodation in one of Doha’s working-class districts. Anil is surprised that someone would think of someone like him again.
Anil left his native Nepal in 2008 to earn more money, first in the United Arab Emirates and later in Qatar. The migrant workers from Qatar and their suffering were the big topic in Germany before the World Cup there. Less so during the World Cup. And since Lionel Messi held up the golden trophy at the Lusail Stadium, where Kenyan security guard John Njau Kibue fell from the stands and died before a quarter-final match, hardly anyone has spoken about the workers in Qatar. “That’s exactly what always worried us, that after the World Cup no one would look at Qatar anymore,” says Anil. “That we then have to worry about the few improvements that the World Cup brought. And that is exactly the reality now.”
Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International estimate that several thousand men from Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Kenya and other countries died while working on the World Cup. Nobody knows for sure because the Qatari government doesn’t keep statistics on it. Tournament director Nasser Al-Khater showed how important the health and lives of the workers are to the organizers while the World Cup was still underway. When a man from the Philippines died while working at the Saudi team’s hotel, Al-Khater said: “Death is a natural part of life.”
Anyone who spoke to workers during the World Cup learned how many of them toil on construction sites in the summer until they collapse. And how they continue to work because otherwise they don’t get paid. Anil, who has been in for ten years Train and, as he says, has a good job in a business where you don’t have to work twelve hours in the heat six days a week, wants to prevent that. That’s why he joined forces with others in the Nepal Migrant Worker Network, an unofficial union. Trade unions are not officially allowed in Qatar.
Some things are getting worse again
Ram is on the video call with Anil. He didn’t connect from Doha, but from Nepal. Ram worked in Qatar for a long time, now he lives back home and tries to help other Nepalese from there. Ram and Anil from the Migrant Worker Network also speak for the other forgotten people from Qatar. They don’t want to speak under their real names because criticism of Qatar could get them into a lot of trouble, perhaps Anil would have to leave Qatar.
Anil and Ram say that some things have gotten better. “Mostly because of the public pressure before the World Cup,” says Anil. There is now a minimum wage of 1,000 Qatari riyals (currently around 260 euros). The kafala system was reformed. This was particularly important for the workers because the old system left them at the mercy of their employer. Officially, they no longer have to hand in their passports and can leave the country or change jobs without their employer’s permission.
At the same time, Anil and Ram talk about the constant discrepancy between what was decided on paper and what is actually happening. Where and how can a worker complain if they are simply paid less or not paid at all? And nothing has improved since the World Cup, they say. “Some things are even getting worse again,” says Anil. When it comes to the Kafala system, for example, many workers still need their employer’s consent to change jobs. Human rights organizations have been pointing this out for years. Many workers cannot defend themselves against exploitation because they have no alternative and have often paid a lot of money to labor agents for a visa. This is also illegal, but still a reality.
Two years ago, a few days before the World Cup final, ZEIT ONLINE spoke to two other workers in Doha who are part of the Migrant Worker Network. They already suspected that the world public would soon no longer think about them. “Keep looking at Qatar, keep looking at us. Please don’t forget us,” they said.
You reach one of the many forgotten people shortly after work; he is on his way to his accommodation in one of Doha’s working-class districts. Anil is surprised that someone would think of someone like him again.
Anil left his native Nepal in 2008 to earn more money, first in the United Arab Emirates and later in Qatar. The migrant workers from Qatar and their suffering were the big topic in Germany before the World Cup there. Less so during the World Cup. And since Lionel Messi held up the golden trophy at the Lusail Stadium, where Kenyan security guard John Njau Kibue fell from the stands and died before a quarter-final match, hardly anyone has spoken about the workers in Qatar. “That’s exactly what always worried us, that after the World Cup no one would look at Qatar anymore,” says Anil. “That we then have to worry about the few improvements that the World Cup brought. And that is exactly the reality now.”
