According to the Qatari official responsible for World Cup delivery, 400 and 500 migrant workers have died on World Cup-related projects.
As a result, the death toll was acknowledged by Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Inheritance, but said the exact figure was still being discussed.
Thawadi told the TV show Piers Morgan Uncensored that “around 400,”. I understand it is between 400 and 500, but the exact number has yet to be determined.
“One death is too many; it’s as simple as that. Our World Cup sites, the ones we are responsible for, are improving every year regarding health and safety standards. The World Cup site is very clearly your trade union for working and improving.
Thawadi’s comments following the interview with Nicholas McGeehan of Fair Square sparked anger: “This is just another inexcusable instance of Qatar’s lack of transparency.” We need accurate data, and thorough investigations, not preliminary figures announced through media interviews. In addition to where, when, and how these men died and did their families received compensation, FIFA and Qatar still have questions to answer.
Since construction for the 2014 World Cup began, the Supreme Committee has maintained that three workers have died at their World Cup stadiums due to work-related causes, and 37 people have been killed from non-work-related causes.
An SC spokesperson said on Tuesday that it is documented annually in SC’s public reporting and covers eight stadiums, 17 non-competition venues, and other related sites under SC’s purview. Covering all sectors and nationalities, individual citations to statistics refer to national statistics covering 2014–2020 for all work-related fatalities (414) nationwide in Qatar.
As a result of Qatar’s winning the right to host the World Cup, more than 6,500 migrants from five countries died in Qatar between 2011 and 2020.
Activists have long argued that the World Cup increased the number of migrant workers traveling to the country, despite the Guardian’s figures showing the total number of deaths from all causes. In 2011, McGeehan said: “Many migrant workers who have died in the country since 2011 have only been there for the World Cup.”
The Qatari government did not dispute the Guardian’s figures but said, “death rates in these communities are within normal ranges given their size and demographics.”
As part of this year’s address to the European Council, Fifa president Gianni Infantino repeated the official figure of three stadium-related World Cup deaths.
So many bereaved families remain unjustified and unjustified due to the continued debate surrounding the deaths of workers during World Cup preparations, according to Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s head of economic and social justice. No explanation was given to their loved ones. Over the past decade, thousands of workers have returned home in coffins.
