DOHA: Qatar has issued new guidelines aimed at protecting thousands of expatriate workers employed on construction projects for the finals of the 2022 World Cup.
The state has faced mounting criticism from human rights groups over the safety and working conditions of migrants working in its booming construction industry.
Its Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, responsible for organizing the tournament, issued standards it said would ensure workers are properly and promptly paid, that their housing is adequate and working conditions up to global standards.
Contractors will be required to set up bank accounts for their workers, creating a system under which the committee can verify that workers are paid in full and on time.
There will also be minimum requirements for worker accommodation covering everything from the number of beds per room to a minimum standard for cleanliness and hygiene.
The committee will require contractors and sub-contractors to ensure “world-class” health and safety for workers, equality in their treatment and protect their dignity.
Amnesty International said in November that workers were being treated like “animals,” and urged football’s world governing body FIFA to press Qatar to improve conditions for foreign laborers, most of whom come from South Asia.
It highlighted a series of abuses including “non-payment of wages harsh and dangerous working conditions and shocking standards of accommodation.”
Following an inspection tour a month earlier, international trade unionists described the working conditions for migrants as “not acceptable.”
Amnesty researcher James Lynch said the new guidelines represent “a positive — if partial — effort to prevent some of the worst abuses from taking place.”
“While this may be a good starting point, the charter will only address the concerns of... those involved in the construction of stadiums and training grounds.
“The standards will not apply to thousands of other migrant workers... including those who will build the wider infrastructure to support the hosting of the World Cup, including roads, hotels and railways.”
The Supreme Committee said it has engaged the International Labour Organization to verify that the procedures were being followed.
FIFA said the committee’s report will be used to prepare for a hearing Thursday at the European Parliament on the conditions of migrant workers.
After that, another detailed report will be delivered to the FIFA Executive Committee in March.
Qatar issues expat worker welfare charter
Qatar issues expat worker welfare charter
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Syrian leader to meet Putin, Russia seeks deal on military bases
- Russia’s continued sheltering of Assad and his wife since their ouster remains a thorny issue
MOSCOW: Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, as the Kremlin seeks to secure the future of its military bases in the country.
Putin and Sharaa struck a conciliatory tone at their previous meeting in October, their first since Sharaa’s rebel forces toppled Moscow-ally Bashar Assad in 2024.
But Russia’s continued sheltering of Assad and his wife since their ouster remains a thorny issue. Sharaa has repeatedly pushed Russia for their extradition.
Sharaa, meanwhile, has embraced US President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday praised the Syrian leader as “highly respected” and said things were “working out very well.”
Putin, whose influence in the Middle East has waned since Assad’s ouster, is seeking to maintain Russia’s military footprint in the region.
Russia withdrew its forces from the Qamishli airport in Kurdish-held northeast Syria earlier this week, leaving it with only the Hmeimim air base and Tartus naval base on Syria’s Mediterranean coast — its only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union.
“A discussion is planned on the status of bilateral relations and prospects for developing them in various fields, as well as the current situation in the Middle East,” the Kremlin said of the upcoming meeting in a statement on Tuesday.
Russia was a key ally of Assad during the bloody 14-year Syrian civil war, launching air strikes on rebel-held areas of Syria controlled by Sharaa’s Islamist forces.
The toppling of Assad dealt a major blow to Russia’s influence in the region and laid bare the limits of Moscow’s military reach amid the Ukraine war.
The United States, which cheered Assad’s demise, has fostered ever-warmer ties with Sharaa — even as Damascus launched a recent offensive against Kurdish forces long backed by the West.
Despite Trump’s public praise, both the United States and Europe have expressed concern that the offensive in Syria’s northeast could precipitate the return of Islamic State forces held in Kurdish-held jails.
