Saturday, June 14, 2014

Nepal workers pay terrible price in Qatar World Cup build-up...

A broken leg, a metal crutch and piles of paper testifying to his fight for justice: all reminders of Bhupendra Malla's stint working for a Qatari construction firm, ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

As the 32-nation tournament gets under way in Brazil, the oil-rich emirate of Qatar has come under fire for allegedly bribing officials to secure 2022 hosting rights and over the abusive conditions endured by migrant workers like Malla.

Three years ago, Malla was desperate to leave his village in central Nepal.

Drowning in debt after a failed attempt to open a shop, the prospect of a job in the Gulf state that would clear his loans and fund the education of his three children seemed like his only way out.

"I could barely make ends meet, my father was a farmer but farming doesn't pay and I needed to find another way to feed my family," Malla told AFP in Kathmandu.

Like hundreds of others who leave the Himalayan nation every day in search of jobs, Malla headed for Qatar, where demand for labour has skyrocketed in the run-up to the World Cup. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. FIFA, Brazil and the World Cup...
  2. Nepal's migrant women easy targets for abuse?
  3. Qatar's deadly World Cup...
  4. Why is India ignoring the 'body bags' from Qatar?
  5. Qatar World Cup: 400 Nepalese die on nation's building sites since bid won...

No comments:

Post a Comment