Mistreatment of Migrant Workers Looms Over Qatar's World Cup

As the 2022 World Cup in Qatar comes to a close, a spotlight remains on rights issues for migrant workers in the country.

For Context: Until recently, Qatar's migrant labor policies gave employers near-total control over migrant workers’ work and immigration status. Despite recent reforms, an October article from Amnesty International (Lean Left bias) alleged that thousands of World Cup migrant workers continue to face issues "such as delayed or unpaid wages, denial of rest days, unsafe working conditions, barriers to changing jobs, and limited access to justice." Of the roughly 2 million people in Qatar's workforce, an estimated 95% are migrant laborers.

Disputed Death Toll: Earlier this month, the secretary general of Qatar’s World Cup organizing committee said "between 400 and 500" migrant workers had died on World Cup-related projects in the past 12 years. Last year, the Guardian (Lean Left bias) reported that 6,500 migrant workers had died in Qatar since it won the right to host the World Cup in 2010. Qatari World Cup organizers have admitted three work-related deaths at World Cup 2022 sites.

How the Media Covered It: Sources across the political spectrum have highlighted abuses and deaths of World Cup migrant workers alongside coverage of the tournament itself. Some coverage from right-rated sources highlighted Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)'s comments about how people may object to North America hosting the 2026 World Cup "with the history of indigenous people, of enslavement, of police brutality."