An app offering migrant employees in Qatar with data on their rights and the potential of felony help has been introduced by means of 3 industry unions, the primary definitive legacy for staff exploited within the strategy of turning in the World Cup.
With the month-long event finishing on Sunday when Argentina play France within the ultimate, the failure of Fifa and soccer associations to ship certain exchange for staff has been decried this week by means of a lot of charities and NGOs.
Now the global avid gamers’ union Fifpro, the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) and the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) have taken motion into their very own arms by means of growing a virtual platform to supply employment beef up. They name it “to date the only initiative made by and for the migrant workers” and say it follows consultations with as many as 1,000 people.
“As part of a shared vision over the last few years, [we] have been seeking ways to help ensure a positive and sustainable impact for communities and people involved in the delivery of major football events,” the unions said in a joint statement. “As it stands [our] The call for better implementation and monitoring of recent labor reforms and the establishment of a Migrant Workers’ Center in Qatar remains unanswered.
“With the Fifa World Cup coming to a close on 18 December, International Migrants Day, Fifpro, BWI and IDWF remain committed to supporting the advancement of migrant workers’ rights and conditions. The global unions encourage collaborations from all stakeholders to ensure that the working conditions and fundamental human rights of all workers involved in and around football tournaments are respected and protected.”
With workers in Qatar unable to organize their labour, and information commonly denied them by employers, there is little awareness of what rights are available to workers and how recent changes in employment law, including the abolition of the kafala system, have affected them. The app will attempt to provide users with “easy-to-understand actionable data” in seven languages: English, Arabic, Urdu, Bengali, Filipino, Hindi and Nepali. It will also provide migrant community groups who speak these languages with access to training content and educational resources.
Although a digital resource will not provide physical sanctuary, an idea integral to the proposal for a migrant workers’ center in Doha, the app is a rare sign of a constructive approach to dealing with the issue of legacy after the World Cup moves on from Qatar .
The creation of a legacy fund to remedy workers’ injuries, or compensate the families of those who had died, was another key demand by the international community that has not been met. This week a group of agencies, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, attacked FIFA for rolling back on what had been perceived as a commitment to such an idea.
“FIFA can still do the right thing by channeling the legacy fund towards workers and their families, supporting a genuinely independent workers’ center and working with Qatar to ensure that every worker can access the compensation that they deserve,” mentioned Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s head of monetary and social justice.