Qatar, FIFA urged to protect 800,000 workers from desert heat
DUBAI (AFP) – World Cup 2022 host Qatar must urgently introduce laws to protect the lives of up to 800,000 migrant construction labourers working in scorching temperatures, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. The New York-based organisation also called on the Gulf state to investigate workers’ deaths and make those findings public. "The Qatari authorities’ failure to put in place the most basic protection from the heat, their decision to ignore recommendations that they investigate worker deaths, and their refusal to release data on these deaths, constitutes a willful abdication of responsibility," said report author Nicholas McGeehan. He also called on football’s world governing body, FIFA, national associations and World Cup sponsors to demand further protection from heat and humidity for Qatar’s workers. McGeehan added: "They should also be demanding answers to two simple questions -- how many workers have died since 2012 and how they have died?" Qata...