"'Like a prison': teenage security guards stuck in Qatar after World Cup,"

Three teenagers who were employed as security guards at the World Cup allege they are trapped in Qatar and unable to return to their homes in the Gambia, six months after the tournament ended.

Papasecka, 19, Ebrima, 18, and Saikou, 16, were left jobless and homeless after their employer fired them without warning days after the World Cup final. They say their ages were altered on official documents in the west African country to show that they were at least 18, the minimum age required to enter Qatar on a work visa.

Since January they have been housed in a government shelter where they allege their movements have been restricted and “all our documents have been taken from us”. They described the shelter as “like a prison”.

They claim that for the first two months they were not permitted to leave the shelter to look for work. By the time they were allowed out in late March, the identity cards of two of them had expired, making it impossible to work legally.

The teenagers are desperate to return home but have no money for the flights. “We are tired of everything and want to go back home, but they’re telling us to buy tickets for ourselves, which they know we can’t afford,” Ebrima said...

... The local World Cup organising committee, known as the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, and Stark Security Services did not respond to requests for comment.

Fifa said it “implemented a far-reaching due diligence process” to ensure companies involved in World Cup-related construction and services followed the Supreme Committee’s standards on workers’ welfare. “We consider any non-compliance with these standards unacceptable and are actively following up when we learn about alleged breaches,” a Fifa spokesperson said.

[The Resource Centre has previously invited response from Stark Security regarding its treatment of workers during the Qatar World Cup.]