Nepal confirms ‘many deaths’ in Qatar as show says figure as high as 1,400

Khafee · Jun 9, 2019

1,400 migrant workers die in Qatar building World Cup football stadiums: TV documentary
08 June 2019
Sanjay Kumar

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In this screen grab from a WDR documentary video posted on YouTube, foreign laborers are seen at work at a stadium being built in Qatar in preparation for the 2022 World Cup. (Benjamin Best Productions GmbH video via YouTube)

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In this screen grab from a WDR documentary video posted on YouTube, foreign laborers are seen at work at a stadium being built in Qatar in preparation for the 2022 World Cup. (Benjamin Best Productions GmbH video via YouTube)

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This screen grab from a WDR documentary video posted on YouTube shows Nepali construction workers being interviewed at their quarters in Qatar. (Benjamin Best Productions GmbH video via YouTube)

WDR’s investigative documentary, titled “Trapped in Qatar,” exposed the harrowing plight of workers forced to live in crowded camps without many basic human needs
“I can vouch for 150 deaths per year. For me it was difficult to see the pain of the workers,” Katmandu-based journalist says

NEW DELHI: At least 1,400 migrant workers from Nepal have died while helping to build football stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, a shock TV documentary has revealed.

Construction site accidents and squalid living conditions in the Gulf state are claiming around 110 lives every year, according to Nepali government figures.

And bereaved families of dead workers told German broadcaster WDR that they had received no compensation from Doha for their tragic losses.

WDR’s investigative documentary, titled “Trapped in Qatar,” on Friday exposed the harrowing plight of workers forced to live in crowded camps without many basic human needs.

Despite Nepal’s efforts to discourage its citizens from heading to Qatar for work, many still leave in the hope of finding better-paid jobs.

One Nepali stadia construction worker, Dil Prasad, said: “We are captured, and every day we nourish ourselves on water and bread. Without money we can’t do anything else. Month on month our situation gets worse. I’m not sure how much longer I can do it. I just want to go home. We can’t even call our families in Nepal.”

Dinesh Regimi, a Katmandu-based journalist who spent three years in Qatar as a reporter, said conditions for Nepali workers had not improved since Doha won its bid to stage the prestigious football competition almost a decade ago.

“When I was there few years ago, I saw only suffering of Nepali workers who migrated to that inhospitable country with lots of hope. They were denied a basic salary, their living conditions were very bad and there was always a long queue (of migrant workers) in the Nepali embassy in Doha seeking relief and intervention,” Regimi told Arab News.

He added: “The migrants faced difficulties returning home. Some died while working, some passed away while sleeping. The heat and living conditions claimed many
lives. The Qatari government would not conduct any post-mortems on these workers.
“I can vouch for 150 deaths per year. For me it was difficult to see the pain of the workers.”

In 2017, Regimi travelled to Nepal to meet families who had lost loved ones working in Qatar.

Kishore Tamang from the Bara district of Nepal, around 250 km south of the capital Katmandu, went to Qatar in 2015 hoping to earn enough money to pay off family debts. But within a year he was dead, after being killed in a fall from a wall at a new football stadium being built for the World Cup. No compensation was paid to his family.

It was a similar story for the family of Jagat Nepali from the Nuwakot district. Within six months of arriving in Qatar he suffered a cardiac arrest brought on, his relatives said, by the intolerable heat and poor living conditions in the migrant workers’ camp.

A government official from Nepal’s Department of Immigration, told Arab News: “We are aware of the situation in Qatar and the difficulties Nepali workers face there. We try to discourage people from going to such places.”

1,400 migrant workers die in Qatar building World Cup football stadiums: TV documentary

NEW DELHI: At least 1,400 migrant workers from Nepal have died while helping to build football stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, a shock TV documentary has revealed. Construction site accidents and squalid living conditions in the Gulf state are claiming around 110 lives every year...

www.arabnews.com

Khafee · Jun 11, 2019

Nepal confirms ‘many deaths’ in Qatar as show says figure as high as 1,400
11 June 2019

Nepal's Labor Ministry has confirmed many stadium deaths in Qatar. (AFP)

NEW DELHI: The Nepali government said there have been “many deaths” in Qatar, following a TV documentary claim that 1,400 workers have died while helping to build football stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

German broadcaster WDR’s investigative show, “Trapped in Qatar,” exposed the plight of workers who endured squalid living conditions and perilous building sites.

A spokesman for the Labor Ministry said he was unaware of the documentary but confirmed many Nepalis had died in the Gulf state.

“It is a fact that many Nepali workers have lost their lives in Qatar over the years,” Narayan Ragmi told Arab News. “I don’t have any information regarding the documentary right now, I am not in a situation to tell you how many people lost their lives in Qatar. But that many people lost their lives in Qatar, that is true. Since the time we started sending our laborers to Qatar some people have lost their lives. I am not sure whether it is 1,400 or 200 or 300. I must verify this number with the authorities directly concerned with the issue.”

Ragmi said there was a memorandum of understanding with Doha, as well as a bilateral agreement, when it came to Nepali laborers. Workers were briefed before leaving Nepal and went through a pre-departure orientation program, he added.

Accidents and poor living conditions were claiming around 110 lives every year, according to Nepali government figures. Bereaved families of dead workers told WDR they had received no compensation from Doha.

Janak Sapkota, a Katmandu-based journalist who has been reporting on labor migration from Nepal, said workers suffered terribly.

“Most of the international companies working in Qatar do not meet safety requirements and as a result many construction workers lose their lives through this gross negligence of proper safety,” he told Arab News. “The living conditions are also very bad, the salary is too low and also exploitative. A few years back the plight of Nepali migrant workers in Qatar was very bad but, after the matter was raised and debate took place around that, Qatari companies took steps to respect the rights of the workers, but they are still not sufficient.”

Barun Ghimire, a Nepal-based human rights activist and lawyer, said employers in Qatar had failed to create working conditions to safeguard the health of workers.

“There have been reports that many Nepali workers have died either in the construction of stadiums or something related to stadiums in Qatar. We tried to establish a case against employers, but they are difficult to investigate because of the chain brokers involved in recruiting the workers,” he told Arab News, referring to people or firms who organized recruitment.

He said up to 1,300 migrant workers departed Nepal on a daily basis for Gulf-based jobs, and that a substantial number went to Qatar. He added that several dead migrant workers were repatriated to Nepal every day.

“I have also found that there is no proper documentation for Nepali workers as a result it’s not easy to establish the culpability of the company. It is difficult to establish the accountability of the companies involved in the preparation of the FIFA World Cup. A lack of transparency in the recruitment process allows companies to escape litigation.”

A journalist who was posted in Qatar four years ago — and did not wish to disclose his name — said there were other problems that needed addressing too. “Whether one agrees with the casualty figures of the German documentary or not, there have been cases of delayed payments to workers, a high number of heart attack cases, delayed medical responses and bad living conditions,” he told Arab News.

He said living conditions in migrant worker camps had improved and that this change might be because of international pressure.