"‘Terrible’ human rights abuses ‘commonplace’ six months after Qatar 2022 despite Fifa promises”

Fifa and Qatar have been accused of failing to deliver on promises that the 2022 World Cup would improve human rights in the Gulf state as it marks six months since the final in Doha.

Human rights advocates have warned that “hundreds of thousands of workers” still face abuses despite a series of labour reforms being introduced to improve working conditions in the country…

Amnesty International’s Stephen Cockburn told i that “terrible cases of exploitation are not the exception – they are quite commonplace.

“We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of workers who face different types of abuses. There are many of these cases of security guards specifically employed for the three months around the World Cup who paid significant recruitment fees and they’ve been made to go home without everything they’re owed.”

In one high-profile case, three security guards employed by company Stark Security Services are still in prison following a disagreement over unpaid earnings. Nicholas McGeehan, one of the co-founders of human rights group Fair Square, tells i their case is “emblematic of the type of stuff that’s still going on. The trade union movement that had a foothold in Qatar is slowly being eased out.”…