[Soccer Stadium. Photo Credit to Pexels]

Labor rights experts are raising alarm bells about potential labor abuse as Saudi Arabia prepares to host the 2034 World Cup, citing troubling parallels to allegations of worker exploitation during the 2022 tournament in Qatar.

The FIFA World Cup is widely recognized as the largest sporting event in the world.

However, the 2022 edition held in Qatar, best remembered for Lionel Messi’s triumph with Argentina, also drew harsh criticism due to allegations of rampant labor abuse in the host country. 

Qatar’s World Cup stadiums were built by a 30,000-strong workforce composed primarily of foreign and migrant workers, according to Qatari government figures. 

The petrochemical-rich Gulf nation recruited workers from less developed countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, India, and the Philippines. 

However, these workers reported they were subject to poor working conditions, squalid accommodations, withheld wages, and forced overtime work under extreme heat.

Qatar started construction of the stadiums in 2010 when it was awarded hosting rights for the tournament. 

Despite Qatari government claims that 37 migrant workers died between 2014 and 2020, of which three were attributed to be work-related incidents, external observers argue that these figures vastly underrepresented the true worker death toll.

A 2021 analysis revealed that more than 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka had died in Qatar since the country was awarded World Cup hosting rights. 

While deaths were not categorized by workplace, much of this death toll was likely related to World Cup infrastructure projects.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) accused the Qatari authorities of misattributing work-related deaths to “natural causes.” 

In a 2021 report, the organization expressed concern about whether deaths caused by heat stress were being properly identified as work-related.

Human rights activists and researchers documented that migrant workers endured poor living conditions while being forced to pay recruitment fees and having their passports confiscated.

Though the Qatari government promised to improve workers’ living and working conditions, external investigations found minimal change.

Now, the same labor abuse criticisms that marred the Qatar World Cup are set to be renewed with Saudi Arabia, which FIFA confirmed as the 2034 host. 

Saudi Arabia’s reliance on migrant labor is even more extensive than Qatar’s, with 13 million foreigners working in the country, far greater than Qatar’s workforce. 

The kingdom has long faced accusations of oppressive treatment of its migrant workforce, most of whom come from less developed economies in South Asia and Africa. 

Human rights researchers identify the “kafala” system of local law as the primary mechanism that enables employers to abuse workers.

The kafala, or sponsorship, system grants private citizens and companies near-total control over migrant workers’ employment and legal status. 

This system has been employed across Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries to maintain a steady supply of cheap foreign labor. 

Under the kafala system, migrant workers’ employment and residency status are inextricably linked, and their sponsor has complete authority to maintain or terminate their status, creating a powerful imbalance that makes workers vulnerable to exploitation.

While the Saudi government has introduced reforms in recent years to ease some kafala restrictions, human rights activists and advocacy groups contend the changes are limited to only two of the five key elements of the kafala system that trap workers in potentially abusive situations: the requirement for employer consent to change or leave jobs and to leave the country.

Consequently, migrant workers still face significant restrictions on switching jobs or leaving the country, resulting in a potential human rights violation. 

Workers also remain prohibited from joining trade unions or workers' committees under the kafala system. 

“Saudi Arabia has one of the most abusive versions of the kafala system in the region,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, in a 2021 report on Saudi labor reforms. 

“The reforms are limited, problematic, and by no means dismantle the kafala system.”

International advocacy groups warn that Saudi Arabia may be using the popular sporting event to whitewash its image and divert global attention away from its controversial human rights record. 

In its submission to FIFA, Saudi Arabia’s human rights proposal includes a pledge to “ensure equitable wages and decent working and living conditions for all individuals involved in World Cup preparations.” 

However, labor rights activists who reviewed the Saudi Arabian proposal argue the country fails to demonstrate any commitment to fundamentally addressing its exploitative labor practices, including the oppressive kafala system.

Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s head of labour rights and sport, criticized the kingdom's human rights plan, saying it contains “nothing” about “whether or how it will put an end in practice to the abusive kafala system that exploits migrant workers.” 

“Without urgent action to improve Saudi Arabia’s human rights protections, it is highly likely that the 2034 World Cup will be blighted by forced labor, repression, and discrimination – with a brutal human cost," Cockburn warned.