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Time of India
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Rights groups say migrant workers dying on Saudi job sites as kingdom prepares for World Cup
Live Events You Might Also Like: Trump lavishes praise on Saudi crown prince, signaling renewed alliance You Might Also Like: US crude oil climbs more than $1 on Saudi investment Scores of labourers from countries including India, Bangladesh and Nepal have faced preventable deaths from electrocution, road accidents, falling from heights, and more while working in Saudi Arabia , according to a report Wednesday by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch and another rights group, FairSquare, released separate investigations Wednesday detailing preventable deaths of migrant workers from job-site accidents and work-related reports accuse Saudi authorities of often misreporting such deaths and failing to investigate, preventing families from receiving compensation from the kingdom that they are entitled to and knowing how their loved ones Saudi Arabia pushes ahead with hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure and development initiatives - including the 2034 men's soccer World Cup and the futuristic city Neom - rights groups warn of thousands more avoidable deaths in the coming one case, Human Rights Watch said a Bangladeshi worker was electrocuted on the job. But his employer allegedly withheld the body, telling the family they would be compensated only if they agreed to a local burial.(Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel for all the latest updates)Another family reported waiting nearly 15 years before they were compensated by the Saudi government."It's very urgent that the Saudi authorities and FIFA put in place basic labour rights protections," Minky Worden, Human Rights Watch's director of global initiatives, told The Associated Press, referring to soccer's world governing in Saudi Arabia did not respond to a request for which looked into the deaths of 17 Nepali contractors in Saudi Arabia over the last 18 months, warned in its report that without accountability, "thousands of unexplained deaths" of low-paid foreign workers are likely to follow."In some cases, you have families being pursued by money lenders for the loans that their (dead) husband or father took out in order to migrate to the Gulf," said James Lynch, who co-directs Arabia has long faced allegations of labour abuses and wage theft tied to its Vision 2030 project, a big-money effort to diversify its economy beyond dependence on shared with the AP a letter it sent Human Rights Watch last month defending the selection of Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 World letter cited the Saudis' commitments to establishing "a workers' welfare system" and enhancing "country-wide labour protections including through a strengthened collaboration" with the United Nations' International Labour kingdom is not the only Gulf Arab state to be accused of abusing migrant labourers in the run-up to a World Cup. Rights groups also criticised Qatar , which hosted the competition in 2022, saying they tallied thousands of unexplained worker this time has the potential to be even worse for foreign workers, Worden said, noting that the 2034 World Cup has plans to require more stadiums and infrastructure with more teams established an oversight board called the Supreme Committee, which monitored FIFA construction sites and took reports of unsafe work conditions."There's no such committee like that in Saudi Arabia," Worden said, adding, "In the end, Qatar did have concrete policies like life insurance and heat protection. Those aren't in place now" in Saudi details of the investigations from Human Rights Watch and FairSquare come a day after FIFA President Gianni Infantino joined US President Donald Trump on his official visit to Saudi Arabia, where Trump met with Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Human rights groups warn of 'surge' in migrant worker deaths in Saudi Arabia
Human rights groups are warning of a "surge" of deaths of migrant construction workers in Saudi Arabia, as it prepares to host the World Cup in 2034. Labourers are already dying from preventable workplace accidents in the country, according to Human Rights Watch and FairSquare which have both published reports today. Many such deaths are wrongly classified as having occurred due to natural causes and the families of workers are not compensated, the reports say. Both groups have called on the Saudi Authorities to ensure basic safety protections for the country's huge migrant work-force. "The 2034 Saudi World Cup will be the largest and most expensive ever, but it could also have the highest cost in human lives, as millions of migrant workers build infrastructure, including 11 new stadiums, a rail and transit network, and 185,000 hotel rooms," Minky Worden, director of Global Initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said. The warnings come a day after the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, visited the country along with Donald Trump - attending a US-Saudi investment forum. FIFA – football's global governing body - says it has a "steadfast commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights in the context of its operations." But Human Rights Watch has accused FIFA of failing to learn lessons from migrant worker deaths in the lead-up to the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. Data on migrant deaths is hard to come by in a country where human rights groups have very limited access and labour unions are banned. But Human Rights Watch interviewed the families of 31 workers from Bangladesh, India and Nepal who fell from heights, were crushed or decapitated by heavy machinery or were electrocuted. Heat is another major concern, as Saudi Arabia ramps up construction work in preparation for hosting the 2034 tournament. 'Workers' rights inaction taints World Cup legacy' No alcohol at 2034 World Cup, says Saudi ambassador In March, a Pakistani foreman, Muhammad Arshad, was reported to have fallen from a construction site at a stadium being built in the eastern city of Al Khobar – the first death related to the World Cup. Last year, the Saudi government said that there had been "tangible achievements" in occupational health and safety, with rates of deaths and injuries decreasing. FIFA also praised "significant steps" taken by Saudi Arabia to reform its labour laws since 2018. But the global construction worker's union, BWI, said there had been an "alarming rise" in accidents that could have been prevented. "These are the result of systematic negligence, corruption and inadequate oversight and accountability," said BWI General Secretary, Ambet Yuson. And Saudi medical authorities rarely conduct autopsies to establish the exact cause of migrant workers' deaths, according to FairSquare. "Hundreds of thousands of young men, many of whom have young families, are being pitched into a labour system that poses a serious risk to their lives, a medical system that doesn't have the capacity to determine the cause of their deaths, and a political system that doesn't appear to either protect them or find out how they died, let alone compensate the families shattered by Saudi Arabia's negligence," FairSquare co-director James Lynch said. He described FIFA's human rights policies as a "sham." "While FIFA praises Saudi Arabia to the rafters and highly-paid western law firms generate vast profits for curating Saudi's reputation, children in places like Nepal grow up without their fathers and never even learn how they died, he said." FIFA told Human Rights Watch that it plans to establish a workers' welfare system dedicated to mandatory standards and enforcement mechanisms for World Cup-related construction and service delivery in Saudi Arabia. In a letter it said: "We are convinced that the measures implemented to ensure construction companies respect the rights of their workers on FIFA World Cup sites can set a new standard for worker protection in the country and contribute to the wider labour reform process, helping to enhance protections for workers on World Cup sites and beyond." But Human Rights Watch said no further details were provided on how the welfare system would work. "Saudi authorities, FIFA, and other employers should ensure that all migrant worker deaths, regardless of perceived cause, time, and place are properly investigated and that families of deceased workers are treated with dignity and receive fair and timely compensation," the group said. The BBC has approached the Saudi authorities for comment. Fifa rejects own committee's call to compensate Qatar workers Fifa legacy fund 'shameful' says Amnesty
14-05-2025
Rights groups say migrant workers dying on Saudi job sites ahead of World Cup
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Scores of laborers from countries including India, Bangladesh and Nepal have faced preventable deaths from electrocution, road accidents, falling from heights, and more while working in Saudi Arabia, according to a report Wednesday by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch and another rights group, FairSquare, released separate investigations Wednesday detailing preventable deaths of migrant workers from job-site accidents and work-related illnesses. The reports accuse Saudi authorities of often misreporting such deaths and failing to investigate, preventing families from receiving compensation from the kingdom that they are entitled to and knowing how their loved ones died. As Saudi Arabia pushes ahead with hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure and development initiatives — including the 2034 men's soccer World Cup and the futuristic city Neom — rights groups warn of thousands more avoidable deaths in the coming years. In one case, Human Rights Watch said a Bangladeshi worker was electrocuted on the job. But his employer allegedly withheld the body, telling the family they would be compensated only if they agreed to a local burial. Another family reported waiting nearly 15 years before they were compensated by the Saudi government. 'It's very urgent that the Saudi authorities and FIFA put in place basic labor rights protections,' Minky Worden, Human Rights Watch's director of global initiatives, told The Associated Press, referring to soccer's world governing body. Authorities in Saudi Arabia did not respond to a request for comment. FairSquare, which looked into the deaths of 17 Nepali contractors in Saudi Arabia over the last 18 months, warned in its report that without accountability, 'thousands of unexplained deaths' of low-paid foreign workers are likely to follow. 'In some cases, you have families being pursued by money lenders for the loans that their (dead) husband or father took out in order to migrate to the Gulf,' said James Lynch, who co-directs FairSquare. Saudi Arabia has long faced allegations of labor abuses and wage theft tied to its Vision 2030 project, a big-money effort to diversify its economy beyond dependence on oil. FIFA shared with the AP a letter it sent Human Rights Watch last month defending the selection of Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 World Cup. The letter cited the Saudis' commitments to establishing 'a workers' welfare system' and enhancing 'country-wide labor protections including through a strengthened collaboration' with the United Nations' International Labor Organization. The kingdom is not the only Gulf Arab state to be accused of abusing migrant laborers in the run-up to a World Cup. Rights groups also criticized Qatar, which hosted the competition in 2022, saying they tallied thousands of unexplained worker deaths. But this time has the potential to be even worse for foreign workers, Worden said, noting that the 2034 World Cup has plans to require more stadiums and infrastructure with more teams competing. Qatar established an oversight board called the Supreme Committee, which monitored FIFA construction sites and took reports of unsafe work conditions. 'There's no such committee like that in Saudi Arabia,' Worden said, adding, 'In the end, Qatar did have concrete policies like life insurance and heat protection. Those aren't in place now' in Saudi Arabia. The details of the investigations from Human Rights Watch and FairSquare come a day after FIFA President Gianni Infantino joined U.S. President Donald Trump on his official visit to Saudi Arabia, where Trump met with Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
BBC News
14-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Saudi Arabia 2034 World Cup: Human rights groups warn of migrant worker deaths
Human rights groups are warning of a "surge" of deaths of migrant construction workers in Saudi Arabia, as it prepares to host the World Cup in are already dying from preventable workplace accidents in the country, according to Human Rights Watch and FairSquare which have both published reports such deaths are wrongly classified as having occurred due to natural causes and the families of workers are not compensated, the reports groups have called on the Saudi Authorities to ensure basic safety protections for the country's huge migrant work-force. "The 2034 Saudi World Cup will be the largest and most expensive ever, but it could also have the highest cost in human lives, as millions of migrant workers build infrastructure, including 11 new stadiums, a rail and transit network, and 185,000 hotel rooms," Minky Worden, director of Global Initiatives at Human Rights Watch, warnings come a day after the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, visited the country along with Donald Trump - attending a US-Saudi investment – football's global governing body - says it has a "steadfast commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights in the context of its operations."But Human Rights Watch has accused FIFA of failing to learn lessons from migrant worker deaths in the lead-up to the World Cup in Qatar in on migrant deaths is hard to come by in a country where human rights groups have very limited access and labour unions are Human Rights Watch interviewed the families of 31 workers from Bangladesh, India and Nepal who fell from heights, were crushed or decapitated by heavy machinery or were is another major concern, as Saudi Arabia ramps up construction work in preparation for hosting the 2034 tournament. In March, a Pakistani foreman, Muhammad Arshad, was reported to have fallen from a construction site at a stadium being built in the eastern city of Al Khobar – the first death related to the World year, the Saudi government said that there had been "tangible achievements" in occupational health and safety, with rates of deaths and injuries also praised "significant steps" taken by Saudi Arabia to reform its labour laws since the global construction worker's union, BWI, said there had been an "alarming rise" in accidents that could have been prevented."These are the result of systematic negligence, corruption and inadequate oversight and accountability," said BWI General Secretary, Ambet Saudi medical authorities rarely conduct autopsies to establish the exact cause of migrant workers' deaths, according to FairSquare."Hundreds of thousands of young men, many of whom have young families, are being pitched into a labour system that poses a serious risk to their lives, a medical system that doesn't have the capacity to determine the cause of their deaths, and a political system that doesn't appear to either protect them or find out how they died, let alone compensate the families shattered by Saudi Arabia's negligence," FairSquare co-director James Lynch described FIFA's human rights policies as a "sham.""While FIFA praises Saudi Arabia to the rafters and highly-paid western law firms generate vast profits for curating Saudi's reputation, children in places like Nepal grow up without their fathers and never even learn how they died, he said." FIFA told Human Rights Watch that it plans to establish a workers' welfare system dedicated to mandatory standards and enforcement mechanisms for World Cup-related construction and service delivery in Saudi a letter it said: "We are convinced that the measures implemented to ensure construction companies respect the rights of their workers on FIFA World Cup sites can set a new standard for worker protection in the country and contribute to the wider labour reform process, helping to enhance protections for workers on World Cup sites and beyond."But Human Rights Watch said no further details were provided on how the welfare system would work."Saudi authorities, FIFA, and other employers should ensure that all migrant worker deaths, regardless of perceived cause, time, and place are properly investigated and that families of deceased workers are treated with dignity and receive fair and timely compensation," the group BBC has approached the Saudi authorities for comment.
San Francisco Chronicle
14-05-2025
- San Francisco Chronicle
Rights groups say migrant workers are dying on Saudi job sites as kingdom prepares for World Cup
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Scores of laborers from countries including India, Bangladesh and Nepal have faced preventable deaths from electrocution, road accidents, falling from heights, and more while working in Saudi Arabia, according to a report Wednesday by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch and another rights group, FairSquare, released separate investigations Wednesday detailing preventable deaths of migrant workers from job-site accidents and work-related illnesses. The reports accuse Saudi authorities of often misreporting such deaths and failing to investigate, preventing families from receiving compensation from the kingdom that they are entitled to and knowing how their loved ones died. As Saudi Arabia pushes ahead with hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure and development initiatives — including the 2034 men's soccer World Cup and the futuristic city Neom — rights groups warn of thousands more avoidable deaths in the coming years. In one case, Human Rights Watch said a Bangladeshi worker was electrocuted on the job. But his employer allegedly withheld the body, telling the family they would be compensated only if they agreed to a local burial. Another family reported waiting nearly 15 years before they were compensated by the Saudi government. 'It's very urgent that the Saudi authorities and FIFA put in place basic labor rights protections,' Minky Worden, Human Rights Watch's director of global initiatives, told The Associated Press, referring to soccer's world governing body. FairSquare, which looked into the deaths of 17 Nepali contractors in Saudi Arabia over the last 18 months, warned in its report that without accountability, 'thousands of unexplained deaths' of low-paid foreign workers are likely to follow. 'In some cases, you have families being pursued by money lenders for the loans that their (dead) husband or father took out in order to migrate to the Gulf,' said James Lynch, who co-directs FairSquare. Saudi Arabia has long faced allegations of labor abuses and wage theft tied to its Vision 2030 project, a big-money effort to diversify its economy beyond dependence on oil. FIFA shared with the AP a letter it sent Human Rights Watch last month defending the selection of Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 World Cup. The letter cited the Saudis' commitments to establishing 'a workers' welfare system' and enhancing 'country-wide labor protections including through a strengthened collaboration' with the United Nations' International Labor Organization. The kingdom is not the only Gulf Arab state to be accused of abusing migrant laborers in the run-up to a World Cup. Rights groups also criticized Qatar, which hosted the competition in 2022, saying they tallied thousands of unexplained worker deaths. But this time has the potential to be even worse for foreign workers, Worden said, noting that the 2034 World Cup has plans to require more stadiums and infrastructure with more teams competing. Qatar established an oversight board called the Supreme Committee, which monitored FIFA construction sites and took reports of unsafe work conditions. 'There's no such committee like that in Saudi Arabia,' Worden said, adding, 'In the end, Qatar did have concrete policies like life insurance and heat protection. Those aren't in place now' in Saudi Arabia.
