Workers on various projects in Saudi Arabia have died after being refused medical treatment by employers and others have committed suicide while facing serious workplace abuse, prompting further criticism of Fifa’s decision to award the Gulf state the 2034 tournament.

New data seen by The i Paper reveals widespread human rights abuses and exploitative labour in the Kingdom. Only some of these are alleged to relate to the World Cup.

In one third of cases monitored by human rights groups, Saudi Arabia’s migrant workers faced intimidation, including threats of terminating their contracts and of deportation. In nine cases, workers involved died while still in Saudi Arabia.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) said families were subsequently denied information, compensation and even the bodies of relatives.

“Sadly, our data reveals working conditions in Saudi Arabia that are all too familiar for the Gulf regime,” says Isobel Archer, senior researcher on labour and migrant worker rights...

“The migrant construction workers who will toil to build the 15 new stadiums Fifa has sanctioned for this expanded World Cup deserve better,” Archer adds...

Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s head of labour rights and sport, said handing Saudi Arabia the World Cup “without ensuring human rights protections are in place will put many lives at risk” and described the move as “reckless”...

Lina al-Hathloul of ALQST – a group monitoring human rights in Saudi Arabia – urged “sustained action to mitigate the grave risks of labour and civil rights violations associated with the tournament, including by securing major and credible reforms.”

“The decision to award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia, one of the worst human rights abusers in the world, is an alarming sign that money and oil prevail over principles and values,” says Abdullah Alaoudh, senior director for countering authoritarianism at Middle East Democracy Center (MEDC).

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