Qatar
\nThe Qatari official responsible for delivery of the 2022 World Cup has said the number of migrant workers who have died on World Cup-related projects is \u201cbetween 400 and 500\u201d.
\nHassan al-Thawadi, the secretary general of the Supreme Committee for delivery and legacy, made the admission in an interview but said a precise figure for the number of fatalities was still \u201cbeing discussed\u201d.
\n\u201cThe estimate is around 400,\u201d Thawadi told the TV show Piers Morgan Uncensored. \u201cBetween 400 and 500. I don\u2019t have the precise number, that is something that is being discussed.
\n\u201cOne death is too many, it\u2019s as simple as that. [But] every year the health and safety standards on the sites are improving, at least on our sites, the World Cup sites, the ones we are responsible for. Most definitely to the extent that you have trade unions [commending] the work that has been done on World Cup sites and the improvement.\u201d
\nAfter the interview there was anger at Thawadi\u2019s comments with Nicholas McGeehan of the advocacy group Fair Square saying: \u201cThis is just the latest example of Qatar\u2019s inexcusable lack of transparency on the issues of workers\u2019 deaths. We need proper data and thorough investigations, not vague figures announced through media interviews. Fifa and Qatar still have a lot of questions to answer, not least where, when, and how did these men die and did their families receive compensation.\u201d
\nThe Supreme Committee has always maintained there have been only three work-related fatalities and 37 non-work-related deaths among migrant workers at World Cup stadiums since construction for the tournament began in 2014.
\nIn 2021 the Guardian published research that showed that more than 6,500 migrant workers from five countries \u2013 India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka \u2013 had died in Qatar between the start of 2011, the year after country won the right to host the World Cup, and 2020.
\nWhile the Guardian\u2019s figures showed the total number of deaths from all causes and in all locations, activists have always argued that the World Cup caused an increase in the number of migrant workers travelling to the country. At the time McGeehan said: \u201cA very significant proportion of the migrant workers who have died since 2011 were only in the country because Qatar won the right to host the World Cup.\u201d
\nThe Qatari government did not dispute the Guardian\u2019s figures, but said that \u201cthe mortality rate among these communities is within the expected range for the size and demographics of the population\u201d.
\nThe official figure of three stadium work-related World Cup deaths was repeated by Fifa and used in a speech by its president, Gianni Infantino, in an address to the European Council earlier this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Qatar The Qatari official responsible for delivery of the 2022 World Cup has said the number of migrant workers who have died on World Cup-related projects is \u201cbetween 400 and 500\u201d. Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary general of the Supreme Committee for delivery and legacy, made the admission in an interview but said a precise figure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298262,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-298240","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n