Human rights groups warn of deaths by migrating employees

Human rights groups warn of an “increase” of the death of migrant construction workers in Saudi Arabia, while it is preparing for organizing the World Cup in 2034.

Laborers are already dying from common workplace accidents in the country, according to Human Rights Watch and Fairsquare who today both have published reports.

Many such deaths are wrongly classified as have taken place as a result of natural causes and the families of employees are not compensated, the reports say.

Both groups have called on the Saudi authorities to guarantee the basic safety protection for the enormous migrant workforce of the country.

“The Saudi World Cup 2034 will be the largest and most expensive ever, but it can also have the highest costs for human lives, because millions of migrating employees build infrastructure, including 11 new stadiums, a rail and transit network, and 185,000 hotel rooms,” Minky Word, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said.

The warnings come a day after the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, visited the country together with Donald Trump – attending a US -Saudi Investment Forum.

FIFA – the global administrative body of football – says that it has a “steadfast dedication to the protection and promotion of human rights in the context of its activities.”

But Human Rights Watch has accused FIFA of learning lessons Migrating employee death in the run -up to the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

Data on deaths by migrants are difficult to find in a country where human rights groups have very limited access and trade unions are prohibited.

But Human Rights Watch interviewed the families of 31 employees from Bangladesh, India and Nepal who fell from Heights, were crushed or beheaded by heavy machines or were elected.

Heat is another major care, since Saudi -Arabia increases construction work in preparation for organizing the 2034 tournament.

In March, a Pakistani foreman, Muhammad Arshad, is said to have fallen from a construction site in a stadium that was built in the eastern city Al Khobar – the first death related to the World Cup.

Last year the Saudi government said that there had been “tangible performance” in health and safety at work and the percentages of deaths and injuries.

FIFA also praised “important steps” that Saudi Aarabia have taken to reform his labor laws since 2018.

But the trade union of the global construction worker, BWI, said that there had been an “alarming increase” of accidents that could have been prevented.

“These are the result of systematic negligence, corruption and insufficient supervision and accountability,” said BWI Secretary -General, Ambet Yuson.

And Saudi medical authorities rarely carry out autopsies to determine the exact cause of the death of migrating employees, according to Exhibition.

“Hundreds of thousands of young men, many of whom have young families, are thrown into a work system that pays a serious risk to their lives, a medical system that does not have the capacity to determine the cause of their death, and a political system that does not seem to protect or discover how they died, said the families who smash the families.

He described the FIFA’s human rights policy as a ‘appearance’.

“While FIFA Saudi Arabia praises enormous profit with the trusses and highly paid Western law firms for putting together Saudi’s reputation, children in places like Nepal grow up without their fathers and never even learns how they died, he said.”

FIFA told Human Rights Watch that it is planning to set up a welfare system of employees who focuses on compulsory standards and enforcement mechanisms for World Cup-related construction and services in Saudi Arabia.

In a letter it said: “We are convinced that the measures that are being implemented to ensure that construction companies respect the rights of their employees at FIFA world cup locations, can determine a new standard for employee protection in the country and contribute to the broader labor reform process, which can improve the protection for employees at world cup locations and there.”

But Human Rights Watch said that no further details were provided about how the welfare system would work.

“Saudi authorities, FIFA and other employers must ensure that all deaths by migrating employees, regardless of the observed cause, time and place, are properly investigated and that families of deceased employees are treated with dignity and receive honest and timely compensation,” the group said.

The BBC has approached the Saudi authorities for comment.