It’s been well known that Qatar has been using slave labor to build their country and that includes the stadiums for the 2022 World Cup. Many slaves have died due to the horrific conditions and there seems to be no end in sight. Today, it was reported by The Guardian that North Korea has been sending laborers to Qatar and were promised their pay when they get back to North Korea after their 3 year stint. Reports from North Korean defectors say that the workers actually receive less than 10% of their pay while some get nothing at all.
How shocking is that? One evil country takes advantage of their people by sending them to another evil country to work on building their facilities for very little or no pay. I wouldn’t have expected that at all. All sarcasm aside, this was already a bad situation which has now gotten worse. Or at least, it’s always been this horrible and we’re just knowing about this now. In the article, it’s unknown whether or not these workers have been building the World Cup facilities but that’s irrelevant. Many workers have died and it’s more than just Qatar participating in this modern day slave trade. “According to defectors’ groups, there may be as many as 65,000 North Koreans abroad, mainly working in Russia, China, Mongolia and the Middle East.”
I know I’m sounding like a broken record but it’s seriously time to move the World Cup. I don’t even care if it’s in the USA or not, just move it from Qatar. I’m never for something like boycotting because that just hurts the players who are in the tournament. Qatar wants to use the World Cup as a form of marketing to show off the best of their country but we’re seeing the ugly truth instead. Besides, this is much more than a soccer issue, this is a human rights issue.
