Human rights organizations are sounding the alarm over an alarming increase in fatalities among migrant construction workers in Saudi Arabia as the nation gears up to host the 2034 World Cup. Reports released by Human Rights Watch and FairSquare indicate that laborers are succumbing to preventable workplace accidents, a situation that raises serious ethical concerns.
Concerns over misclassification and safety standards
Both organizations reveal that many of these tragic deaths are inaccurately classified as resulting from natural causes, leaving families without compensation for their losses. They have urged Saudi authorities to implement fundamental safety measures to protect the vast number of migrant workers who are vital to the nation’s infrastructure projects.
As Minky Worden, director of Global Initiatives at Human Rights Watch, pointed out, “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.”
FIFA’s responsibility and ongoing challenges
The warnings come shortly after FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s visit to Saudi Arabia for a US-Saudi investment forum alongside Donald Trump. FIFA, the governing body of world football, has reiterated its commitment to human rights. However, Human Rights Watch has criticized FIFA for not adequately addressing the issues of migrant worker fatalities that were evident prior to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Gaining accurate data on migrant deaths in Saudi Arabia is challenging, primarily due to the restricted access for human rights groups and the prohibition of labor unions. Interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch with families of 31 workers from Bangladesh, India, and Nepal revealed harrowing accounts of deaths caused by falls, equipment accidents, and electrocution.
Heat exposure exacerbates these dangers, especially as construction activities intensify ahead of the 2034 tournament. Incidents such as the death of Pakistani foreman Muhammad Arshad, who fell at a construction site in Al Khobar, highlight these risks.
While the Saudi government has claimed progress in occupational health and safety, with reported decreases in injury and death rates, the global construction workers’ union, BWI, disputes these assertions. General Secretary Ambet Yuson expressed concern over an “alarming rise” in preventable accidents, attributing them to negligence and lack of oversight.
“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,” said FairSquare co-director James Lynch.
Lynch criticized FIFA’s human rights policies as a “sham,” emphasizing that while FIFA lauds Saudi Arabia, families in countries like Nepal are left to cope with the loss of fathers who perished without proper investigation into the circumstances of their deaths.
In response to these criticisms, FIFA announced plans to establish a workers’ welfare system aimed at enforcing mandatory standards for World Cup-related construction sites. However, the organization has not provided specific details on how this system will operate.
Human Rights Watch insists that it is essential for Saudi authorities, FIFA, and other employers to thoroughly investigate all migrant worker fatalities, regardless of the perceived cause, and to ensure that the families of deceased workers are treated with dignity and receive timely, fair compensation. The BBC has reached out for comments from Saudi authorities regarding these serious allegations.