Tuesday, April 30, 2013

World Cup hosts Qatar face scrutiny over 'slavery' accusations...

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Yet according to Belounis, as well as several human rights groups, several players and thousands of construction workers who will be building the infrastructure for the World Cup have been abused, denied their wages and trapped in a system that they cannot escape from.

The so called Kafala system -- which ties employees to a specific employer -- has, according to Human Rights Watch and the International Trade Union Confederation, been open to systematic abuse and created a de facto form of slavery for the more than one million migrant workers living within its borders.

"Qatar has been quite successful at giving off a progressive image when, in fact, the [labor] system is exploitative," said Nicholas McGeehan of Human Rights Watch.

"It is the same old story. The Kafala system, the confiscation of passports, the illegal charging of exorbitant agent fees, the inability for workers to access the courts for redress.

"Qatar has an exit visa system so you cannot leave the country without the sponsor's say. You have a system where workers are trapped in the country and the same old abuses rear their head. Unpaid wages, wages held in arrears. It keeps workers credibly vulnerable," he added. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Indian workers mistreated in Qatar...
  2. Modern day slavery in the Gulf...
  3. The slaves of Dubai...
  4. Indian migrants return home with horror tales from UAE...
  5. Abused Sri Lankan housemaids in Saudi Arabia cry for help...
  6. Indian workers stranded in Jeddah, living under a bridge...
  7. The slave workers of Dubai...
  8. France Football says Qatar bought 2022 World Cup rights...

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