Human Rights Watch claims Qatar is still failing workers building World Cup stadia
The Qatari authorities are still not doing enough to protect migrant workers from the country's extreme heat and humidity, even those working on World Cup stadiums, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
There are an estimated two million foreign workers, 95% of the workforce, in the small-but-rich Gulf state, with 800,000 working in construction.
Since controversially winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup in December 2010, the country has embarked on a massive infrastructure upgrade, including eight new or improved stadiums.
Work on the latter is overseen by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy and - under global pressure - it has taken steps to protect its 12,000 workers.
But the US-based HRW remains concerned about a lack of detail in its statistics for worker deaths and the fact it does not take into account the effect of sunlight when setting heat-stress safety limits.
#Qatar can, and should, enforce better requirements to protect construction workers’ lives against extreme weather https://t.co/GXkE50k19g pic.twitter.com/VRhzlpS0W5
— Adam Coogle (@adamcoogle) September 27, 2017
Most of all, however, the human rights group points out the vast majority of Qatar's construction workers are not given the same level of protection as those working on World Cup stadiums.
The current rules prohibit working outdoors between 11.30am and 3pm from June 15 to August 31, when it is usually more than 40 degrees Celsius, but make no allowance for the actual heat or humidity, so it could still be over 40 degrees when work is allowed.
In a statement, HRW Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said: "Enforcing appropriate restrictions on outdoor work and regularly investigating and publicising information about worker deaths is essential to protect the health and lives of construction workers in Qatar.
"Limiting work hours to safe temperatures - not set by a clock or calendar - is well within the capacity of the Qatari government and will help protect hundreds of thousands of workers."
The author of HRW's last report on the issue, Nicholas McGeehan, believes more than 2,000 migrant workers have died in Qatar since 2012, with heat stress being a major factor.
The report did praise Qatar's World Cup organisers for the measures they have taken so far, particularly the heat-based work ban, and called on the county's neighbours - Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates - to take note.
"Qatar sought the spotlight by bidding for the 2022 World Cup, brought in hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to build roads, stadiums, and hotels, and then shelved key recommendations from their own consultants to investigate migrant worker deaths," said Whitson.
"FIFA and national football associations should make clear they expect life-saving changes to law and practice that could set a Gulf-wide example of how to save construction worker lives now and in the future."
