The Cost Is Too High
In theory, the system of kafala labor being used to build the stadiums for the World Cup should protect the workers. However, the employers serving as the laborers’ sponsors, although legally responsible to assure fair and safe working conditions for them, frequently do exactly the opposite. Reports of brutality, unsafe working conditions, destroying workers’ travel and identity documents, and withholding wages, have been widely documented in the international press for many months. As a recent New York Times editorial states, while “90 percent of Qatar’s population is made up of migrant workers,” among those being brought in to build ...