Qatar Building World Cup Soccer Stadiums with Imported Slave Labor

THE horrific conditions of workers building the 2022 World Cup facilities in Qatar can be revealed today.

We secretly toured the camps where thousands of immigrant workers are living in misery, squalor and fear in the Gulf state.

Labourers building the stadiums, hotels, roads and hospitals in a 39billion development revealed how:

Healthy young men are dying from heart attacks and heat exhaustion working in temperatures topping 40C.

Their bosses have confiscated their passports to stop them fleeing the country

Some workers building the World Cup stadiums are not even being paid.

One told us: We are trapped in a nightmare. We are treated like animals, not human beings.

Thanks to its natural gas reserves, Qatar is the richest country in the world per head of population.

It also enjoys a growing influence over world football with ownership of French giants Paris Saint-Germain and a lucrative sponsorship deal with Barcelona.

But while its 250,000 nationals enjoy a life of luxury, more than a million migrant workers from countries such as Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh are living like slaves in squalid camps.

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We joined Labour MP Jim Murphy, the shadow international development secretary, on a fact-finding investigation organised by the International Trade Union Confederation.

According to the labour union, 1200 migrant workers have died since 2010, when Qatar controversially won the right to host the 2022 event. And they warn that as many as 4000 could die before a single ball is kicked in eight years time.

Murphy said: As Qatar gears up to 2022, the abuse has to stop. Football cannot tolerate a World Cup built on the back of workers abuse, misery and blood.

In my meetings with the people in charge of Qatar 2022, they made some big promises of change. After this investigation, its urgent that they deliver.

As work begins on the stadiums, the international pressure has to be stepped up. Fifa must act and the SFA have to speak out.

On Wednesday, the Qatari government insisted that the countrys workforce are treated very well and there has been great improvement in the conditions of workers in recent months. But that night, under cover of darkness, risking arrest and imprisonment, we visited camps to see first-hand the truth about the plight of the migrant workforce.

A half-hour drive from the gleaming city skyline of Doha, we found thousands of workers living in slum conditions.

We visited one camp, where more than 2000 men live.

There was an overpowering smell of excrement as we arrived. There were no Western-style toilets but holes in the floor. Others washed themselves using buckets of water. Salty water was used for drinking and washing.

Dirty water or sewage flowed under our feet. Staff cooked their meals on filthy, grimy grills and stoves, with no sign of fridges or freezers.

We were forced to leave when the labour camp boss threatened to call the Qatari police. If caught, we risked being arrested and held in custody.

Conditions were no different at another camp. We have chosen not to identify it to protect the men who spoke to us.

Young men in football tops asked us the latest match scores as they had no TVs, radio or internet access.

But despite their love of the beautiful game, they can only dream of being able to afford to see football matches when the World Cup comes to Qatar.

One man working on a World Cup stadium said his employer had stopped paying him.

When he had been paid, he received 132 a month the same amount as the cheapest ticket for international supporters to see the opening game of the World Cup in Brazil this summer.

We also heard from workers about the desperation of their situation.

They revealed how they had paid hundreds of pounds to secure jobs in Qatar through recruitment agencies.

But once they had got there, the companies they are working for confiscated their passports.

They were then sent to work in soaring temperatures topping 40C.

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One workers rights campaigner told us that employees are more likely to die from heart attacks or heat stress than industrial accidents.

He said men as young as 25 were dying from heart attacks because of their working and living conditions.

But for many, there is no escape. Under Qatars kafala system, workers cannot change jobs or leave the country without their bosss permission.

Some revealed that their employers had not paid them for months but they could not change jobs.

Many have not seen their families for years.

Murphy said: Until now, this was the ugly secret of the beautiful game. If this abuse continues, this would be a World Cup that shames the history and romance of a tournament that has brought us the footballing genius of Puskas, Cruyff and Pele.