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Two human rights groups are raising alarm bells over migrant worker deaths in Saudi Arabia ahead of the country’s 2034 World Cup.
Human Rights Watch and Fairsquare each released a report Wednesday criticizing the kingdom for “gruesome yet avoidable” workplace deaths and lack of consistent protocol following the incidents. Many of the migrants who died came to Saudi Arabia from India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
FIFA faced backlash from human rights groups ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for similar reasons. An unknown number of migrant workers died constructing the stadiums for the tournament, many from extreme heat during summertime months.
“FIFA, which claims to be an impetus for positive labor reforms in World Cup host countries, should learn from the human rights disasters of past tournaments and urgently demand effective prevention, investigation, and compensation mechanisms for migrant worker deaths and injuries,” Michael Page, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Middle East director, said in a statement.
For the 2022 tournament in Qatar, workers built seven stadiums from scratch. For 2034, the Saudis have promised at least eight new stadiums and three under construction, according to the official website. The country is also ramping up its construction efforts with other “giga-projects” like NEOM, a planned futuristic city running only on renewable energy sources.
According to Human Rights Watch, workers have died in Saudi Arabia from decapitation, electrocution, and falling from buildings, among other injuries. The families of these workers said they have struggled to receive compensation following the deaths or information about how they happened, while some employers have pressured them to bury family members in Saudi Arabia.
The Fairsquare report details failures by the Saudi government to handle these deaths, including by labeling many of them as “natural deaths” without prompting further investigation. “It is clear that many future deaths could be prevented if proper investigations were initiated, and if effective public health measures were put in place to respond to their findings,” the Fairsquare report reads.
FIFA did not comment when reached.
FIFA said in a letter to Human Rights Watch in April that it planned to set up a “workers’ welfare system including dedicated mandatory standards and enforcement mechanisms” that would cover anyone involved in building World Cup stadiums in Saudi Arabia. The soccer governing body said the work to implement this strategy has already begun, but did not give a timeline for when it would be in place.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino visited Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. They visited Qatar Wednesday.
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