In October 2016, a law suit was commenced by a Bangladeshi man – the 21 year old Nadim Shariful - against FIFA for allegedly failing to use its influence to ensure basic workers’ rights in the construction sites for the 2022 World Cup. The suit, launched in FIFA’s home city of Zurich, is backed by the largest labour union in the Netherlands, the Dutch Federation of Trade Union (FNV). Mr. Shariful demanded compensation of $11,500 for the $4,000 he paid to a recruiter for a job in Qatar where he then had his passport confiscated and worked for 18 months under unbearably hard conditions.
Unfortunately, Mr. Shariful’s case was not isolated, as international organisations, such as Amnesty International, have denounced the practices of confiscating passports, non-payment of salaries as well as threats at the workplace, which are the rule in the Gulf country getting ready for the World Cup at the expense of exploited migrant workers. Some of them are so desperate that they commit suicide – such as the young Indian worker who hanged himself in the basement of the Convention and Exhibition Center in Doha on 29 September 2016 – whilst some others die of illness, tiredness and malnutrition.