DHAKA: Qatar’s construction industry is rife with abuse of migrant workers who are ‘treated like cattle’ and live in squalid accommodations.

Amnesty International said on Sunday while calling on world soccer`s governing body to help with the situation, The Jerusalem Post publishes this report on Monday.

Qatar will host the 2022 World Cup and Amnesty asked FIFA to work with the Qatari authorities to stamp out abuses of workers who mainly come from South Asia.

‘Our findings indicate an alarming level of exploitation in the construction sector in Qatar,’ said Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty.

‘FIFA has a duty to send a strong public message that it will not tolerate human rights abuses on construction projects related to the World Cup.’

‘It is simply inexcusable in one of the richest countries in the world that so many migrant workers are being ruthlessly exploited, deprived of their pay and left struggling to survive.’

‘Construction companies and the Qatari authorities alike are failing migrant workers. Employers in Qatar have displayed an appalling disregard for the basic human rights of migrant workers.’

Amnesty is the latest organisation to focus on treatment of migrant workers in Qatar, following similarly scathing reports by Britain’s Guardian newspaper and the International Trade Union Confederation.

Amnesty said it had carried out interviews with about 210 migrant workers in the construction industry during two visits to the country in October 2012 and March 2013.

BDST: 1437 HRS, NOV 18, 2013
RoR/BSK