ILO reports that 50 migrant workers died in Qatar in 2020

Fifty migrant workers died, and more than 500 were seriously injured last year in Qatar, during the works to host the 2022 football World Cup – reported the International Labor Organization (ILO) on Friday (19).

The wealthy emirate is regularly criticized by international NGOs for its treatment of hundreds of thousands of workers, mostly from Asia, in major construction projects for the World Cup.

According to the report by the United Nations agency, the majority of migrant workers who died in 2020 died in falls, or in traffic accidents, mainly in the workplace.

In addition, 506 migrant workers were seriously injured in 2020, and another 37,600 suffered minor or moderate injuries.

The ILO, which found gaps in the data collected, explained that it was based on information from institutions that do not always classify the dead and injured at work in the same way.

The data “are not collected systematically,” said the director of the UN agency’s Qatar office, Max Tunon, in a statement.

The report calls for the creation of a “national platform” that brings together all the data.

“We have to act urgently, because behind each number is a worker and his family,” added Tunon.

“Another important recommendation is to further investigate the causes of deaths that are not classified as work-related, but which may be,” said Tunon.

Qatar commended the publication of the report and noted that it reflects Qatar’s commitment to fully cooperate with regard to the rights of its workers.

“Qatar is studying the report’s recommendations and will continue to work with the ILO,” said a government spokesman.

Doha says it has done a lot to improve the working conditions of migrant workers, who number more than two million in the country.

The Gulf emirate has announced several reforms since winning the right to host the World Cup in 2010, including the introduction of a minimum wage and the possibility of changing employers more easily.

Critics say, however, that the implementation of such reforms is long overdue.

In February, Doha vehemently denied information published by British newspaper The Guardian that more than 6,500 migrant workers had died in Qatar since 2010. It refuses, however, to disclose the exact number of these deaths.