This is where the FIFA World Cup
final will soon be held... the Lusail Stadium in Qatar. In just four years, it went from this... to this. It has 80,000 seats... and cost more than
$700 million to build. It's the biggest stadium
in the Middle East. But it's more than that. Over a decade ago, Qatar had hoped that hosting a mega sporting event
in stadiums like these would put it on the map. But today, stadiums like Lusail
are a symbol of how a country can build
grand infrastructure to further its own interests and how those ambitions can trap thousands. "...migrant workers lost their lives
in the construction of the stadiums..." "...forced to labor under
extremely poor conditions..." "Migrants working on infrastructure projects
have died or suffered abuse." "The logical source of oil for Europe
is the Middle East..." Since the 1940s, when Qatar discovered
huge reserves of oil and then gas it's been one of the richest countries on Earth. 70% of the government's revenue
comes from oil and gas exports. Thanks to all that wealth Qatar has gone through a
remarkable transformation. The capital, Doha, for instance,
went from fishing town... to world class city in just
a couple of decades complete with extraordinary museums
and fancy hotels. But in recent years, the world has been
turning to renewable energy making the oil and gas market
Qatar relies on even less dependable. And in the Gulf, the country has seen
regional tensions surge most notably in 2017, when
neighboring countries issued a blockade against Qatar... cutting off trade and travel. It cost the country hundreds
of millions of dollars. So to diversify and protect
its economy... Qatar has started leaning
into another area that helped establish its status
as a wealthy nation... sports. That repositioning is
based on soft power. Qatar is trying to secure friends
when in need. Particularly powerful friends
from the West like the United States and the UK. And so the best way to do that is through these soft sectors
like sports. In the last 18 years, Qatar has held
more than 20 major sporting events. But nothing compares to
the 2022 World Cup. "The winner is... Qatar." Qatar won the rights to host
the World Cup in 2010. "Today we celebrate, but tomorrow... the work begins." It had made an unbeatable
promise to FIFA. It would spend more money than any host had ever done before. $200 billion. And it delivered. Since then, Qatar has
built up 8 stadiums. It's built dozens of hotels and
laid down miles of roads and metro lines to connect
all that infrastructure. They've even completed a whole new city with golf courses, marinas,
and a theme park. It can brag that it is the first
Middle Eastern country that's ever hosted a mega sporting event. To be able to do that you have a lot of partners,
including FIFA itself and all the celebrity ambassadors
who are vouching for Qatar having these incredible world class stadiums,
these glowing, glistening hotels. You can come to Doha and feel secure that you're experiencing a world
that's business savvy that's modern and advanced. While the spotlight was
supposed to show Qatar as a shining example of development... it also exposed one of its darkest secrets. To power decades of development Qatar has relied on a constant supply
of temporary, low paid workers mainly from South Asia
and East Africa. Since the early 2000s, so many foreigners
have come to work in Qatar they now make up 80%
of the total population. They build, clean, serve, and staff
pretty much every industry. When we think about how migrant workers
recruitment journey commences we think about workers who are in extremely low wage situations. So they are looking for a place
where they can emigrate... to allow them some upward
socioeconomic mobility. And Qatar promises them that mobility. Typically, Qatari companies hire
international recruitment agencies that find workers to send over. They promise these workers
well-paying jobs in exchange for illegal
recruitment fees upfront. They also have the workers pay
for medical tests passports, flights, the visa... all to get the job contract. The workers often take out loans
in their home countries to pay the agencies incurring
significant debt. It's a huge transnational... cross-border operation... which completely screws workers
at the start of their journey. Workers often use their family's
savings to pay for a job in one of the richest countries
per capita in the world. They arrive in Qatar often to find they're not getting the job
and salary promised and can't do anything about it... because they've now entered
the country's kafala system. It's a uniquely restrictive
immigration system that can take different forms
in different industries. But they all have one crucial thing
in common. Kafala legally ties the immigrant's
immigration status to their employer. Meaning an individual employer has to sponsor their worker which gives them an inordinate amount
of power over them. They can control when
their employees job ends or if they can change jobs. They can control if and when
migrants leave the country. Often by confiscating their passports. And they can also control the worker's ability to renew their residency and work permit. But beyond the restrictions on a migrant's
freedom of movement the system also traps them in a cycle of abuse. And that became evident when Qatar
started preparing for the World Cup. To deliver on the infrastructure
Qatar promised it tapped into its migrant pipeline and recruited hundreds of thousands
of new workers. When Qatar was awarded
the World Cup in 2010... all of the people involved in decision making knew that the World Cup would be built based on the kafala system. Thousands of migrants turned into
construction workers to build stadiums like Lusail which became the site
for human rights abuses that ranged from
verbal abuse to death. Several investigations into Qatar's stadiums revealed that employers
usually house workers in private camps far
from city centers... where they are forced to live
in overcrowded rooms and unsanitary conditions. And at work, their lives
are put at risk. Migrant workers are often given
the most dangerous jobs on the site and can be forced to work up to 14 hour days in Qatar's extreme heat. The day this photo of the
Lusail stadium was taken the high in Doha reached
109 degrees Fahrenheit. They have spent so many hours
in the blistering sun... and after that they only permitted a five minute break to eat and they eat standing
and then go back. Whenever you're also up on a scaffolding,
coming down for a bathroom break might get you in trouble with your boss. And so you end up drinking less water despite the need to have it to avoid heat exhaustion. The number of work-related
migrant deaths surrounding stadiums remains unclear due to Qatar's lack of transparency. In fact, that's the case for
the entire kafala system. But there have been some clues
along the way. The death certificates Nepal
has received with the bodies sent back from Qatar show that nearly 120 Nepalese migrants have died on the job since 2008. The real number, though,
is likely much higher. In 2019, a study examined the link
between Nepalese worker deaths and heat exposure and concluded heatstroke was a likely cause of cardiovascular deaths. That alone could raise the number
of just Nepali migrant worker deaths to about 600. In addition to living and working
in abusive conditions many are also not getting paid
for their work. Workers have repeatedly faced wage theft. So then the debt keeps racking up because the debt still exists
and in many cases workers have still not been able to
survive on a daily basis. This is one of the richest countries
in the world and yet they haven't been able to accelerate its reforms and ensuring people
have been paid on time. Some workers try to file complaints,
only to find there are few effective mechanisms in place. And speaking out comes with
risk of retaliation... which has kept migrants isolated
in the kafala system with increasing debt and
unable to access justice. After years of mounting pressure from human rights organizations
and a formal complaint that reached the UN's International
Labor Organization... in 2017, Qatar signed
an agreement promising to align its laws
and labor practices to international standards. In 2020, 10 years after construction
for the World Cup began Qatar implemented a minimum wage
for workers and now allows them to terminate their employment contract. But... The challenge with the minimum wage
laws is enforcement. Employers started pushing back
against the government. And so even though we haven't seen
amendments to the legislation. Indeed, we're seeing a watering down
of reforms. And for the migrants who have already
been abused to the kafala system. This is all too late. Civil rights groups and
football associations are now calling for a remedy fund to compensate the migrant workers financially. And some teams have
taken a stand in the field... and on social media. "We have learned that the decision to host the World Cup in Qatar which resulted in the suffering and harm of countless of
our fellow workers..." Making this year's World Cup a particularly difficult one to watch. Millions of football fans will still tune in and cheer
for their favorite teams. But after that final match is over... and the trophy is awarded... stadiums like Lusail will continue
to be a grim reminder that it all came at
a human cost.
