Fifa has published a long-awaited report it commissioned into the legacy of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, but has failed to implement its key recommendation.
The governing body’s sub-committee on human rights and social responsibility concluded that Fifa “has a responsibility” to contribute to compensation for workers harmed by the tournament’s preparation and delivery.
“There are workers who have contributed to the resounding success of the World Cup… who have not yet benefited from any, or any adequate remediation,” it says.
The committee advises Fifa to “to dedicate the World Cup 2022 legacy fund in full or in part to further strengthen the competition’s legacy for migrant workers”.
Fifa unveiled a £39.4m ‘legacy fund’ earlier this week, but it did not include compensation for workers impacted by the tournament, drawing criticism from human rights campaigners.
The report – which was commissioned in March 2023 – was submitted last December but Fifa has waited almost a year to release it.
The findings are based on independent research that found “a number of severe human rights impacts did ultimately occur in Qatar from 2010 through 2022 for a number of workers connected to the 2022 World Cup. This included: deaths, injuries and illnesses; wages not being paid for months on end; and significant debt faced by workers and their families reimbursing the fees they paid to obtain jobs in Qatar”.
It adds that “the due diligence measures put in place by Fifa and its partners did not prevent these severe impacts from occurring…a credible argument can be made that Fifa contributed to some of the impacts”.
It concludes that “Fifa and other organisations who participated in the delivery of the World Cup… have a shared responsibility… to make remedy available to workers impacted”.
Background
Controversy over the human cost of building the infrastructure required for the 2022 tournament in the gulf state’s extreme summer heat has hung over the event for years.
In 2021, it was revealed that 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had died in Qatar since it won its bid to host the World Cup in 2010.
The Qatari government said not all the deaths recorded were of people working on World Cup-related projects, and that many could have died from old age
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