Dive Brief:
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“There is a lot more” American construction companies building 2022 World Cup infrastructure in Qatar could do to ensure that their subcontractors do not mistreat migrant laborers, the head of a Qatari government inquiry into alleged abuses told Congress on Wednesday.
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Michael Pullen, who worked on the 2014 report when he was with global law firm DLA Piper, said although the laborers from India, Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines do not work directly for the American contractors, those firms — including Bechtel, CH2M Hill and AECOM — should enforce international standards to prevent injuries, deaths and wage theft.
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Pullen’s remarks came during a Senate subcommittee hearing into the bribery scandal involving soccer’s governing body, FIFA. Committee Chairman Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, referred to “a culture of corruption” in FIFA that “is turning a blind eye to significant human rights violations and the tragic loss of lives.”
Dive Insight:
More than 1,200 construction workers reportedly have died during the building of soccer stadiums in Qatar, although officials of the wealthy country have denied that the fatalities are due to construction accidents. A high number of heart attacks and sudden deaths among migrant workers have been blamed on heat and stress.
Those claims led the DLA Piper researchers to call for an investigation into the causes of deaths, but Pullen said he didn't think Qatar had performed the requested autopsies.
Still, human rights groups and others had expected the Persian Gulf nation to respond to the report, but experts told the senators that few of its recommendations have been addressed.
