Qatar kills foreign labor with COVID-19

Qatar is seeking to maintain its economic projects at the expense of foreign workers amid rising global concerns about COVID-19.

The coronavirus has been spreading fast in Qatar as the authorities there are careless about expatriate labor working at the facilities of the FIFA World Cup, which due in 2022.

The foreign workers use overcrowded buses to go to workplaces, where there’s no safety measures to combat a rapid spread of COVID-19.

Despite many reports issued by a number of international organizations, calling for attention to the foreign labor in Qatar, the authorities isolate these workers, without taking any preventive measures or offering any medical care.

In this regard, an Amnesty International report has accused Qatar of abusing workers with bad workplaces that spread the coronavirus. The foreign workers, who are constructing stadiums and infrastructure for the FIFA World Cup 2022, are forced to work on overcrowded sites.

The foreign workers are living in very poor conditions in Qatar as they share bedrooms with 8-10 people. They are sent to the construction sites on jammed buses, with 60 people on each bus.

Amnesty International said that some parts of the Industrial Zone in Doha had been shut down after hundreds of workers were infected by COVID-19. However, the workers said the Qatari authorities had turned the area into a prison.

The Qatari police guard the vicinities of the Industrial Zone, where thousands of workers are kept in overcrowded and dirty camps. The workers say no one is allowed to leave these camps.

The workers at these quarantined camps get compulsory, unpaid breaks, with only food and beds to sleep.

Qatar has been accused and globally criticized due to the bad situation of foreign labor, especially those working on preparations for the FIFA World Cup projects. The number of foreign workers has been rising since 2010.