Workers, footballers mark migrant workers' day a year before World Cup
To mark this year’s International Migrant Workers’ Day and the one-year countdown to the FIFA 2022 World Cup Final, the Building and Woodworkers’ International (BWI) and the World Players’ Union (FIFPRO) today issued a joint open letter recognising, honouring and celebrating the work of migrant workers around the world, particularly those who laboured to construct the mega infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
BWI and FIFPRO said that the state-of-the-art stadium and facilities, accommodation and transport for the 2022 FIFA World Cup are owed to the labour of migrant workers in Qatar. They said that as the bulk of the infrastructure for the World Cup has been built—through the consistent lobbying and campaigns of various trade unions—significant progress in the protection of human rights of migrant workers in Qatar has also been achieved.
However, both BWI and FIFPRO acknowledges that more needs to be done to promote the rights and welfare of migrant workers. To sustain the momentum of labour reforms in Qatar beyond the World Cup, BWI and FIFPRO propose the complete abolition of the kafala system, establishment of a Migrant Workers’ Centre, employer guarantees that labour laws will be respected without exceptions, and promotion of further new and ground-breaking steps to protect human rights, including the fundamental rights of workers.
Read the full letter here. It is also available in other languages.