Qatari Government: Qatari Migrant Workers Dying In Droves

It's getting harder and harder to deny that Qatari migrant workers are dying at an alarming rate. One report, published by ITUC in March, estimated that World Cup construction will eventually kill more people than 9/11. (That report didn't sit well with Qatar's Supreme Committee of Delivery & Legacy.) A more recent report, this one commissioned by the Qatari government itself, has concluded that nearly 1,000 migrant workers have died in Qatar since 2012, and that the country's entire labor system needs an overhaul.

This latest report was conducted by international law firm DLA Piper at the request of the Qatari government, and it does not paint a glowing picture. From The Guardian:

The report by the international law firm DLA Piper calls for changes to the much-criticised kafala system that ties workers to their employers. It also contains the Qatari government's own figure on the numbers of migrants who have died on its soil: 964 from Nepal, India and Bangladesh in 2012 and 2013. In all, 246 died from "sudden cardiac death" in 2012, the report said, 35 died in falls and 28 committed suicide.

The report also come with 62—62!—suggested reforms that need to be made by the Qatari government, which is to say that the entire system as it currently stands is a completely fucked-up death factory. Case in point:

In light of the apparently unusually high levels of heart attacks, it calls for an independent study into sudden cardiac arrests over the next three years and for there to be proper investigation into unexpected or sudden deaths.

A country that needs an independent law firm to tell it that hey, maybe it's worth looking into why workers are just dropping dead from heart attacks for seemingly no reason is not one that should be hosting the World Cup.

[ The Guardian]