Qatar 2022 boss Hassan Al-Thawadi: There have been between 400 and 500 migrant worker deaths from World Cup projects
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Published 29/11/2022 at 11:25 GMT
Qatar 2022 boss Hassan Al-Thawadi says there have been between 400 and 500 migrant worker deaths from projects connected to the World Cup. In an interview on TalkTV, Al-Thawadi admitted that "one death is too many" and that improvements still have to happen in the Gulf state. He did, however, claim that "our most ardent critics now consider us a benchmark in the region".
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Qatar 2022 boss Hassan Al-Thawadi says there have been between 400 and 500 migrant worker deaths from projects connected to the World Cup.
Before and during the World Cup, the treatment of migrant workers - who have been involved in building the stadia and infrastructure for the tournament - has been front and centre of the scrutiny on hosts Qatar, with a report from the Guardian back in February 2021 stating there had already been more than 6,500 deaths by that stage.
Qatar has contested those figures - claiming they were significantly lower - but now comes the admission from Al-Thawadi that the figure is in the hundreds.
Speaking on TalkTV, Al-Thawadi said: "The estimate is around 400, between 400 and 500. I don't have the exact number. That's something that's being discussed.
"One death is a death too many. Plain and simple.
"Every year, the health and safety standards on the sites are improving, at least on our sites, the World Cup sites that we are responsible for, most definitely.
"Overall, the need for labour reform in itself dictates that yes, improvements have to happen.
"This was something that was recognised before we bid.
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Hassan Al-Thawadi
Image credit: Getty Images
"The improvements that have happened aren't because of the World Cup. These are improvements that we knew we had to do because of our own values.
"The World Cup served as a catalyst. Because of the spotlight, which we recognised early on was going to be shed, it caused a lot of these initiatives, not only in terms of improvement in the legislation but in the enforcement of it as well.
"And that's where today, we got to a position where our most ardent of critics consider us to be a benchmark in the region."
Al-Thawadi said that - within the overall figure of 400-500 - there had been three work-related deaths and 37 non work-related deaths of migrant workers related specifically to the construction of the event's stadia.
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