
Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves' - yapcguy
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/revealed-qatars-world-cup-slaves
======
philwelch
Qatar's 2022 World Cup is a major controversy even outside of this. FIFA
accepts World Cup bids mainly on the basis of bribery, but Qatar was a bridge
too far. The country is so unsuitable to host a World Cup while simultaneously
being so full of money that's being spent chasing prestige that it's
completely blatant what really happened there.

The temperature is over 100 in the summer, so even with massive air
conditioned stadiums they're not sure how to build yet, it's going to be a
miserable experience for fans. If they move it to the winter, that means
either January/February (which conflicts with the Winter Olympics and, in the
US, the NFL postseason, leaving FOX aggrieved that their World Cup
broadcasting rights are essentially worthless) or November/December (which
conflicts with club football in England, particularly the traditional Boxing
Day fixtures). Australia, one of the other countries that bid for 2022, is
threatening to sue FIFA if they move the tournament to winter on the grounds
that they bid for a summer tournament. The USA also had a very strong 2022
bid. Qatar, like Russia (who will host the 2018 World Cup) also has laws
against homosexuality. The Russia bid, by the way, won against an England bid,
and while it's more defensible than Qatar, it also smells of bribery and does
more to motivate England in particular against FIFA's handling of the next two
World Cup bidding processes.

With all that in context, this frankly isn't news. Qatar, like Dubai, is
notorious for its treatment of migrant construction labor. But stories like
this serve a PR purpose for the multitudes of parties aggrieved by FIFA, all
of whom have money on the line.

~~~
tantalor
Do the terms "winter" and "summer" in this context only refer to the northern
hemisphere? Was Australia's "summer" bid to place the tournament in their
winter? Presumably they have better weather in the winter.

~~~
jowiar
Much of Australia is reasonably temperate. July in Sydney or Melbourne is in
the 40s-50s Fahrenheit, which, while chilly, is both comparable to the climate
for a large portion of the club season in Europe and vastly better than
100-ish for a sport that combines endurance running with interval sprints.

~~~
TheCoelacanth
The previous World Cup in South Africa was also held during their winter. I
believe the weather was similar to what Australia would have.

------
jlgreco
From the article:

 _• Evidence of forced labour on a huge World Cup infrastructure project.

• Some Nepalese men have alleged that they have not been paid for months and
have had their salaries retained to stop them running away.

• Some workers on other sites say employers routinely confiscate passports and
refuse to issue ID cards, in effect reducing them to the status of illegal
aliens.

• Some labourers say they have been denied access to free drinking water in
the desert heat.

• About 30 Nepalese sought refuge at their embassy in Doha to escape the
brutal conditions of their employment._

I have to object to The Guardian's use of scare quotes in the title...

~~~
joonix
I lived and worked in Qatar and none of this is new to me. These people are
treated in horrible conditions and I don't think Qataris have a second thought
about it. They genuinely believe they are superior people and are permitted to
do this to those lower than them (I am generalizing, yes, there are some good
people there, but this is the most pervasive mindset. Just look up horror
stories of how Filipina maids are treated in Qatari households. Rape victimes
are at the Philippines embassy there every day trying to get help).

It was a really terrible place, don't be seduced by the media coverage gushing
about their wealth. It's very easy to be

This is a government that charges fines from their red light cameras in excess
of a year of a laborer's salary. They then require an "exit visa" to depart
the country, and you can't get the exit visa until all your debts are paid,
and your employer gives you one. I knew of Sri Lankan cab drivers who were
trapped for _years_ in Qatar trying to pay off their fines so they could
leave.

Even as a professional American your employer can abuse you if they feel like
it thanks to the "exit visa" requirement. Oh, you're quitting? Fine, I'll keep
your last paycheck, here's your exit visa. Nobody should take a country that
has an "exit visa" requirement seriously! I could not deal with the pressure
of my freedom literally being in my employers hands. I did not last there very
long in this environment, I am never going back to that hellhole.

~~~
yapcguy
Thank you for sharing your experience. I wonder how many expats would be in
Qatar or Dubai in the first place if it weren't for the 0% income tax.

Speaking of Dubai...

"Norwegian woman sentenced to prison in Dubai for the crime of unlawful sex
with her alleged rapist"

"Australian Alicia Gali reported being brutally raped while working at a hotel
in the Unite Arab Emirates 2008, spent eight months in a fetid and overcrowded
jail cell after (she says) being tricked into signing a confession."

[http://www.newstatesman.com/middle-east/2013/07/shocking-
cas...](http://www.newstatesman.com/middle-east/2013/07/shocking-case-marte-
dalelv-shows-why-we-should-be-boycotting-dubai)

------
arjn
None of this is new. There have been plenty of articles describing how expat
laborers are treated in some of these Middle Eastern countries. I have family
who live and work in Dubai (very near Qatar) and Ive visited a few times. Here
are some of the things I've heard :

\- Workers having their passports taken away so they can't leave. This is very
common.

\- Not being paid wages they were promised.

\- Beatings and general mistreatment.

\- Being made to work in extreme temperatures.

\- Authorities under-reporting weather temperatures so workers cannot stop
working.

\- Getting thrown out of the country and/or being threatened if any complaints
are made.

\- Housemaids from India,Sri Lanka,Phillipines,Bangladesh etc being assaulted,
beaten and sexually molested. This is shockingly common.

\- Large numbers of women (girls) from Slavic and East Asian countries being
imported/traded/bartered as sex workers.

\- Basically - if you're brown-skinned and not a local you're like a 3rd class
citizen.

------
KVFinn
If you've ever wondered to what degree bribes influence World Cup selection,
to find a worse location than Qatar you would almost have to put the World Cup
in Antarctica or under the ocean.

By just about every measure they considered in every official analysis, Qatar
was rated as the worst choice.

Total attendance in South Africa 2010 was 3.1 million. Qatar has a population
of 1.9 million.

[http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1kf33g/epl_ceo_joins...](http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1kf33g/epl_ceo_joins_efa_is_calling_for_fifa_to_take_the/cbov711?context=3)

They also promised some magical stadium air conditioning tech because the
regular environmental of Qatar would make having a big outdoor tournament
impossible. Big surprise, relying on not-yet-invented tech is looking like it
won't work and they are already saying they may have to move to the coolest
part of the year.

Just one more specific example: FIFA requires there to be 6 different host
cities, while Qatar only had three. They got around this by saying they would
'build' four new cities in time for the World Cup.

It's a travesty.

------
jcdavis
As someone who spent 4 months in Qatar several years ago, I am unfortunately
confirm the pathetic treatment of foreign physical laborers there.

As an example, one thing all the malls there do is "family day": the idea in
theory being that it's then to make Muslim women feel more comfortable. Turns
out in practice though, a decently dressed Arab male can go in, as can a white
male. "Family day" is really "no laborers at the mall day", and it just so
happens to be on the one day most workers get off

------
suhailpatel
A very similar article was written 4 years ago in The Independent about Dubai
and as far as I know nothing has changed. Definitely worth a read to find out
about a very similar culture of modern day slavery

'The Dark Side of Dubai':
[http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-
hari...](http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-hari/the-
dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html)

~~~
shalmanese
Some expats have raised doubts over this article:
[http://www.thenational.ae/business/media/expat-takes-uk-
jour...](http://www.thenational.ae/business/media/expat-takes-uk-journalist-
johann-hari-to-task-over-portrayal-of-dubai)

------
rayiner
It pains me that the U.S. has absolutely no balls to stand up to the Middle
Eastern sheikdoms. And American businessmen are slobbering like puppies trying
to get a slice of that oil capital. It's all quite disgusting really.

~~~
peter_l_downs
Why would the US be involved in this issue? I would think that it's FIFA's
fault for choosing the location.

~~~
404error
IMO you are spot on that its FIFA's fault for choosing the location. The Cup
will be moved to the winter and will affect European football due to league
play.

The US was runner up and should have been awarded the World Cup in 2022. The
1994 Cup in the US was one of the most, it not the most, profitable World Cup.

The infrastructure is in place in the US to host the World Cup.

Can you imagine what political ramifications there would be if the World Cup
hosting rights were taking away from Qatar and awarded to the US.

~~~
the_watcher
Do you have sources for it being so profitable? For who? Everything I
understand about events like the World Cup and Olympics is that they are
massively wasteful, corrupt, publicly funded economic disasters. Is that just
the Olympics?

~~~
404error
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_the_FIFA_World_Cup](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_the_FIFA_World_Cup)

It was one of the most profitable World Cups, take into account that it was in
1994.

~~~
the_watcher
The most comprehensive source (and most recent, and only source about the
economics I can still find) to this page suggests that it was an economic
catastrophe that "showed a cumulative loss of $5.6 billion to $9 billion."[1]
It's the same argument politicians use to swindle taxpayers into publicly
financing stadiums for billionaire sports owners.

[1] [http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/07/opinion/la-oe-
coates...](http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/07/opinion/la-oe-coates-
worldcup-20100907)

------
beloch
Qatar is right next to the UAE, both geographically and in terms of their
treatment of foreign laborers. When somebody I know mentions they are
considering working or vacationing in Dubai, I make a point of mentioning how
those gleaming towers were built. Now I get to complain about Qatar whenever
the world cup comes up in conversation. Gee, that ought to make me popular!

The UAE and Qatar are both countries awash in oil money who are trying to buy
their way out of their uncivilized reputations. Surprisingly, it's working.
People are attracted by the gleaming steel and concrete that makes places like
Dubai seem like they're from the future. Working there (in white collar jobs)
also appeals because the average engineer can afford servants! Although it may
feel boorish, pointing out the true nature of the foundations these places are
built upon is the only way to prevent more cities just like them from popping
up wherever there is money right next to poverty.

~~~
curiousDog
I'm not sure why you're being downvoted. What you say is a 100% true. After
watching how a laborer was treated in Dubai, I refuse to fly Emirates, Qatar,
Etihad or any middle eastern airline. And I hope I never have to set foot in
these atrocious places for the rest of my life.

~~~
beloch
People from the Emirates, Etihad, or Qatar, and those who have
vacationed/worked there also visit this board, and are no doubt not happy
about this being pointed out. Even just visiting a place makes you feel
connected to it, and angry when something like this is pointed out. Like I
said, I don't expect saying things like this to make me popular. Still, the
more people are willing to be unpopular, the more chance there is for change.

------
mas644
As somebody who spent a few years in Saudi Arabia (as well as visiting some of
its fellow oil rich neighbors)...I can confirm this problem which is endemic
to all rich Middle Eastern countries. As an American of Indian ethnicity (I
can speak Hindi), I was able to see how people from these countries treat
folks from the Indian subcontinent.

They're all basically nouveau-riche. They bring in what is slave
labor/indentured servitude from poorer countries like Pakistan, India,
Bangladesh, Nepal, the Philippines, etc. They clean the toilets, they serve
the food at McDonalds, they build every house and skyscraper, the work the oil
fields...in other words all the dirty jobs. Likewise people from western
countries are brought into do the white collar work -- doctors, engineers,
architects, etc....though they're having a blast.

I would say the situation is analogous to illegal immigrants from Mexico in
the US -- but believe it or not we're way way way way way nicer to our illegal
immigrants than these countries are to their legal immigrants! They live in
terrible and barbaric conditions very similar to those described in the
article. What makes it all so horrid is the disparity in wealth between the
way they live and the way the elites live. If you're in Dubai, you can go
snowboarding on a ski slope inside a shopping mall -- built by some guy who's
in the outskirts of the city, sleeping in a hot tin can with 12 other guys, a
broken AC, completely sore body, and sun burnt skin. You'll sometimes see Arab
guys screaming at/assaulting these people at stores, shops, or taxis as if
they're feudal lords talking to their peasants.

My father calls these immigrants heroes. They take shit (physically, verbally,
mentally) you and I could not imagine just to send back the equivalent of
$100-$200 a month to their families back home. That small amount of money
enables them to educate their kids, feed their family, build homes,
businesses, etc. They dream of the day they get to return home and finally see
their families again.

------
bjhoops1
Terrible. This reminds me of what was going on in Saipan 20 years ago. A
paradise of conservative/libertarian economic governance that Jack Abramoff
and Tom Delay worked so hard to protect from the horrors of organized labor
and worker's rights.

[http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/18/world/made-usa-hard-
labor-...](http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/18/world/made-usa-hard-labor-
pacific-island-special-report-saipan-sweatshops-are-no.html)

~~~
wooter
hold up. in no way is/was Saipan a paradise of libertarian economic
governance. From your article: "If we complain, then our bosses would send us
back to China and take away all of our money. Our families need the money."

No libertarian I know, me included, would object to (rather, we would support)
massive penalties for any entity that engaged in such behavior.

Additionally, Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay are the exact opposite of
anything/anyone a libertarian would endorse.

I really encourage you to learn about Libertarianism because if you really
believe Saipan 20 years ago was a "paradise of libertarian economic
governance" you are farrrr off the mark.

~~~
bjhoops1
And how do you imagine these "massive penalties" would be enforced? Perhaps by
government regulation? Can't recall the last time I heard a Libertarian talk
about a lack of that, or say anything favorable about labor unions. I think a
lot of Libertarians think of Libertarianism as economic Conservatism, except
it all works out magically because Free Markets and legal marijuana! Both
sides tend to have an misplaced trust in the free markets to solve problems,
and have a knee-jerk reaction against any increase in the size of Big
Government, new regulations or labor union-strengthening measures.

I've been both a conservative and libertarian myself in the past, and I would
agree that these outcomes are not considered desirable by adherents of those
viewpoints, but unfortunately this sort of thing is very often the result of
the policies and philosophy they thought would make everyone's lives better.

My two cents. Or if I'm more honest, Thomas Frank's two cents.
[http://www.amazon.com/The-Wrecking-Crew-Conservatives-
Govern...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Wrecking-Crew-Conservatives-
Government/dp/0805090908) Good read, that.

~~~
wooter
"Free Markets and legal marijuana!" You're clearly not interested in having a
civil discussion. If I were as childish as you, I would respond that you
believe in "Socialism and the Drug war!" (both proven failures)

I am only replying for the sake of people who may not have been introduced to
Libertarianism.

Libertarianism is absolutely reliant on property rights and contract rights.
Both of which must be enforced by a government and were violated in the
example above. The huge penalties would be levied by a court.

The regulation that most Libertarians oppose is more akin to the current
situation. There are vast regulations on Wall Street (and resources expended
putting them in place) but when rampant fraud becomes evident not a single
prosecution is made. In the meantime, the barrier to entry is raised and
competition is stifled with further meaningless regulation as the Government
sells it self to special interests (while claiming "reform"). Other examples:
illegal wars, illegal torture, illegal surveillance. No one held accountable.

Your post amounts to "you're against meaningless/hurtful regulation? anarchy
doesnt work!!!"

------
spindritf
Not 'slaves' but serfs (no quotes necessary). Since we're moving back to
feudalism, we should start getting it right.

------
everest81
Some perspective from Nepali side, even though I don't reside there now I go
back quite often. Airport in Nepal has separate line/queue for emigration for
these workers going to arab countries like Qatar. Every day 100s of such
workers emigrate out of Nepal, all carrying dream of earning a decent living
and sending money back for family. As much as it pains me to say this, some of
those workers have no better option in Nepal. In my village itself, I've seen
hoards of supposed lower caste people make a better living for themselves
because of earnings/money sent back by their sons/husbands from Qatar and
other countries. They were neglected by upper caste/government before and now
they are neglected by another country. Problem lies with Nepal, the government
more than anything. Everyone who aspires to go abroad thinks or believes it
won't happen to them, but they don't know the bad conditions waiting for them
until they leave. And as the article states, in most cases they take loans,
sell farmland(if they've any) and build up a sizable debt before setting food
abroad. What can be done to help the situation? Fixing problems from Nepali
side aside, it would help if Fifa would strip Qatar of the WC all together,
but not likely as they were bribed in first place anyways. It would also help
if bigger entities(US, UK) put pressure on Fifa in the regards.

~~~
contingencies
Agreed. FIFA is unlikely to suddenly change though: it, like the numerous
ultra-conservative non-state totalitarian oil-fuelled sheikhdom-hells of the
Middle East, is like the rest of the mass media entertainment industry merely
a symptom of the real problem, which is global capitalism. The US and Europe
benefit too much to make any concrete change. They're all hypocrites. We have
to make change ourselves by supporting one another.

------
vowelless
As referenced to in the article and highly relevant, the Kafala System [1]
which has roots in Islamic adoption jurisprudence [2].

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafala_system](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafala_system)

[2]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_adoptional_jurisprudenc...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_adoptional_jurisprudence)

~~~
yapcguy
Wow, only 6% of the labor force is made up of locals. Basically the Qataris
sit back and let workers from the rest of the world do 94% of the country's
work. Which begs the question, what exactly do Qataris do all day?!

 _> "Under the state-run kafala sponsorship system, workers are also unable to
change jobs or leave the country without their sponsor company's permission."_
(Guardian)

 _> About 1.2 million foreign workers in Qatar, mostly from India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia and the Philippines, make up 94 percent of the
labor force. There are nearly five foreign workers for each Qatari citizen,
mostly housemaids and low-skilled workers._ (Link 1 above)

~~~
Samuel_Michon
As is the case in all the Persian Gulf oil states. You didn’t think the
sheikhs themselves would get their hands dirty, did you? They’ve got
Pakistanis for that.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Pakistan#A...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Pakistan#Abuse)

~~~
vowelless
Pretty much. Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans and many, many Indians. The
proximity to the subcontinent makes it easy to bring in the labor force.
Growing up in the middle east, I knew people whose passports were taken by
their sponsor so that they couldn't leave the country. House maids are very
badly treated in particular (physical abuse sometimes leading to death).

~~~
selmnoo
I want to give some input from the other side here.

I was born in Pakistan. I got out of there at age 12. It took my family about
8 years to get all the paperwork in order to leave the place.

I vividly remember, when I was about 8, a lady coming to our house to sell
some pomegranates. It's what a lot of poor people do there to get by, kind of
like this: [http://transworldexpedition.com/wp-
content/uploads/2010/10/D...](http://transworldexpedition.com/wp-
content/uploads/2010/10/D_banana_boy.jpg). They'd knock the door of each house
and try to make a sale. My mom often bought their stuff, and would sometime
offer them some work for a small pay (wash the dishes, 20 rupees; mop the
floor, 10 rupees). One of the ladies that my mom used to do business with
frequently came to our house one day, just begging and begging to borrow (I
think) some 12,000 rupees (about $100 USD). Why did she need that money? Her
husband had found an opportunity to get out of the country... she spoke very
happily about this as if it was finally a blessing she'd been praying for. She
said her husband would go there to make money, and send it back so she could
more comfortably take care of her 5 kids. This was while my family was in the
process of getting the papers in order to flee Pakistan for America, we'd been
working with 2 lawyers, we knew how to play the game and we had the money to
play it. I remember thinking then in my naivete, wow, so poor people also have
the opportunity to leave that hellhole for a better life.

Of course now I'm here in America, and I never heard of her again. But I can
make a good guess what happened. Her husband probably saved up to go to Qatar
(or some other middle-eastern region where this happens), paid for the ticket
himself, had his passport confiscated when he got there and was basically
trapped. It sends a chill down my spine to think how the lady fared in her
life, without a husband, without the small income stream that she once had,
with no word back from him -- only uncertainty. I knew where she lived, her
place of residence, it kind of like this:
[http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article391293.ece/ALTERNATES...](http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article391293.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/sukhi-
johal-image-3-28704880-391293.jpg), with basically nothing inside besides a
wooden frame for sleeping and little possessions beside stuff picked up from
trash.

What separated her or her children from me, was that I was born a good
kilometer north of where she lived, where the slums were. I was born to a
father with a masters in chemical engineering, who had the means, resources,
and the knowledge to know he had to get out of there if he wanted a better
life for himself or his children.

I'm left now with the depressing, heavy, and intimate knowledge that there are
still so many people there -- and elsewhere in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,
Nepal etc. that are recipients of this cruel fate. Their sons and daughters
are sold off as slaves and/or prostitutes, and they can't even do anything
about it. The misery those people suffer is simply unimaginable to us.

~~~
contingencies
Right on. Things are bad for people in much of the world, not just South Asia.
A Nepali girl who is a friend of a friend of ours is basically homeless,
penniless and stranded after a romantic overseas trip ended up with her being
mistreated by her boyfriend. She is staying with us for the next week until a
flight home. In the same week, a young boy we know's father was attacked by
thieves with knives who slit his throat and hands to make off with minor cash.
He was so deeply psychologically shocked that he has turned so far on to hard
drugs he is completely ignoring his own family. After seeing the financial and
emotional stress caring for the boy is placing on other people I promised to
go and try to discuss him out of it: that's crisis #2 to solve this afternoon!
The developing world sure is amazing, but poverty and pain can be hard to
escape.

~~~
selmnoo
Thanks for helping these folks out, you're making the world a better place by
helping them in their time of misfortune.

------
bayesianhorse
One of the appalling details is that these abuses to the individual don't make
a dent in anyone's profit. Really, how many workers do you have to deny water
to, in order to make up for even one worker's salary?

I allege that this is actually a symptom of corruption. Starting with poor
labor laws at the top, down to poor enforcement of probably already poor
corporate policies on the ground.

I don't really believe that this situation is even to the best interest of the
companies (excepting maybe the slave driving contractors on the bottom).

~~~
pbhjpbhj
If FIFA had any moral fortitude then they would cancel the event - if
independent parties can verify the allegations and there is any evidence that
the government have not been acting to the best of it's abilities to prevent
such actions.

It seems FIFA care nothing about football except that it's an opportunity for
the rich to line their pockets.

If FIFA don't act then governments in countries where FIFA operate should be
shutting them down and disbarring all directors for supporting wide-scale
illegal and immoral activity against human beings.

Even one confirmed case of a worker being unfairly denied their entire wage
(without the government moving to correct the injustice), never mind being
denied water or freedom from physical abuse or having their passport unjustly
confiscated and they should just revert to the runner up country.

That would be fair play.¹

1 -
[http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/socialresponsibility/fairplay/...](http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/socialresponsibility/fairplay/index.html)

------
susi22
I'm glad this is getting attention. I was in Germany in July and watched a ~1h
documentary about the working conditions there. Confirming what is written in
the Guardian. The image I saw in the documentary were extreme. No access to
clean water, no access to working bath rooms, no paying. They're also lured
into coming there being promised a better life and once they're there they
realize it but it's too late.

There has also been a report on it in March from Spiegel:

[http://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/wm-2022-internationaler...](http://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/wm-2022-internationaler-
gewerkschaftsbund-erhebt-vorwuerfe-gegen-katar-a-891266.html)

I usually dont' quote BILD, but they say the workers get paid ~0.78 Cent (EUR)
an hour:

[http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/wm/arbeiter-werden-wie-
skl...](http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/wm/arbeiter-werden-wie-sklaven-
behandelt-29673610.bild.html)

No air conditioning when it's often over 50 deg. celsius (~122 Fahrenheit).
This could explain the many hear failures noted in the article.

------
kvinnako
I am appalled by the conditions but I don't think any of these articles is
going to change a single thing in Qatar. I believe it will continue happening
in Qatar. Only way to stop it is educate people from poorer countries to not
go there no matter how enticing it seems(just like a mirage).

~~~
glesica
And to stop hosting international events and locating foreign-owned businesses
there.

------
yohann305
How can someone enjoy a soccer match knowing it is happening on a field
stained by the blood of modern-day slaves.

I WON'T. WILL YOU?

------
linux_devil
Can't imagine to walk in their shoes. This is a crime and serious human right
violation. Wonder if embassy of small country not able to take action against
contractors?

------
iluvuspartacus
There is always the possibility of a fourth Punic war...

------
bernardom
"Revealed?"

Where have you been? How is this news?

------
Fando
The richest people are refusing to pay for labor, enslaving human beings
instead - insanity.

------
wehadfun
Why hasn't Nepal rescued its country men from this?

~~~
everest81
no one cares, its a corrupt government where everyone is looking out to make
money at every level.

------
icecreampain
This is shocking... how? The arab empire was built on the slave trade. The
whole of Dubai exists solely due to external workers, from engineers to the
bricklayers.

This should not shock anyone.

~~~
at-fates-hands
The only shocking thing is how we in the US put up with this behavior from
governments we send billions in aid to every year. You'd think we'd have the
balls to suspend some their aid and have them put an end to this type of
abuse.

~~~
ihsw
How is that the US' responsibility? It has nothing to do with balls at all,
either.

If you think the US has any interest in exerting its economic or military
power in the interest of morals and ethics then I've got a bridge to sell you.

------
alexeisadeski3
Hey, different strokes for different folks.

------
morgante
As someone who lives in the Emirates, I have to object to the allegation of
"slaves." This is not slavery. It's indentured servitude, which is definitely
distressing but not quite of the same character.

Most importantly, in the talks I've had with workers, the vast majority of
them still are happy to have these jobs despite the conditions. They're paid
an order of magnitude more than they make in Nepal and if you go to poor
Nepalese villages you'll see entire families building new houses based on
earnings from sons who went to work in the gulf.

Finally, it's important to note that there's pretty drastic variation in how
workers are treated in different firms. Certainly none have ideal working
conditions, but the majority are legal and passable. It's the truly horrible
ones which actually trigger government investigations (and, sadly enough, many
of the worst firms are actually run by overseas businessmen.).

~~~
cshenoy
Indentured servitude is debt bondage made explicitly so (contractually). When
a worker says, "we were compelled to come just to make a living, but we've had
no luck", that seems like they've been tricked into working as indentured
servants without prior knowledge.

~~~
notahacker
I think pretty much all of them are well aware that the cost of flying them to
the Gulf far exceeds their savings and they won't have the funds to fly back
of their own accord before their contract is up. It's not one of these
trafficking situations where they've been told they've been found a nice
domestic service job in the capital and they subsequently end up in an
underground brothel in another country.

They have good reason to expect to have access to food and their post-
deduction wages though.

~~~
morgante
> It's not one of these trafficking situations where they've been told they've
> been found a nice domestic service job in the capital and they subsequently
> end up in an underground brothel in another country.

Exactly. Honestly, it's very telling that the vast majority of migrant workers
in the gulf are men. They're doing hard manual labor, in admittedly poor
conditions, but that is by and large what they signed up for.

> They have good reason to expect to have access to food and their post-
> deduction wages though.

Agreed. And that's why the instances where they don't even receive that are so
alarming and _do_ trigger government investigations.

------
andrewtbham
This seems off topic to me and I don't feel like it follows the guidelines.

[http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

The thing I that bothers me is I get sucked into these off topics sensational
stories.

