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Migrant laborers who built Qatar's World Cup stadiums often worked long hours under harsh conditions and were subjected to discrimination, wage theft and other abuses as their employers evaded accountability, a rights group said in a report released Thursday.
The 75-page report by the London-based charity Equidem comes less than two weeks before the Gulf Arab nation hosts the world's biggest sporting event, with over 1.2 million fans expected to descend on the tiny emirate for the monthlong tournament.
Under heavy international scrutiny, Qatar has enacted a number of labor reforms in recent years that have been praised by Equidem and other rights groups. But advocates say abuses are still widespread and that workers have few avenues for redress.
Qatari officials from the ruling emir on down accuse critics of ignoring the reforms and applying double-standards to the first Arab or Muslim nation to host the tournament.
Equidem says it interviewed 60 workers over a period of two years who were employed across all eight stadiums. All of them spoke to the group on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution.
Workers described illegal recruitment fees that left them deeply in debt before they even started; long working hours in the desert heat and other harsh conditions; nationality-based discrimination in which the most dangerous high-rise work was reserved for Africans and South Asians; unpaid wages and denial of...
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