Amnesty International’s latest report, The Ugly Side of the Beautiful Game, issued in March 2016 highlights the ongoing and persistent exploitation of vulnerable migrant workers building infrastructure in preparation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ soccer tournament in Qatar. Verité has been engaged in the engineering and construction sector in the GCC region and Qatar for a number of years assisting those companies and organizations who want to ensure the ethical recruitment and treatment of the millions of migrant workers employed in the sector.
The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) in Qatar is the entity tasked by the government of Qatar with delivering stadiums and other infrastructure for the 2022 FIFA World Cup™. The SC is also responsible for the implementation and monitoring of Workers’ Welfare Standards (Standards) at stadiums under construction or refurbishment and other related infrastructure projects in Qatar. The SC decided to appoint an independent external monitor to continuously review and assess the extent to which SC contractors and subcontractors – including their recruitment agents – and the SC itself are in compliance with these Workers’ Welfare Standards.
Recognizing that the appointment of an independent external monitor was an opportunity to ensure that the appropriate level of effective due diligence in accordance with international standards and best practices is being conducted on SC contractors and their subcontractor base, including recruitment agents, Verité agreed to develop the technical scope of services for the independent external monitor.
The scope we developed was designed to enable the external monitor to measure the extent to which: 1) SC contractors have incorporated the Standards into their business operations and are conducting appropriate due diligence on their own operations and their subcontractor base, including recruitment agents; 2) existing auditing systems effectively monitor and measure compliance; 3) rectification and preventive actions result in sustained compliance; and 4) there are meaningful worker grievance mechanisms in place as an alternative monitoring and verification channel.
In early April 2016, the SC announced the appointment of Impactt Ltd as the independent external monitor chosen to implement the scope we developed.
Verité hopes that the criteria we put forward will lead to effective due diligence and genuine accountability for ethical migrant worker recruitment and safe, fair, and legal working conditions in Qatar.
For more information contact: Declan Croucher.