Migrant Workers Dying On Saudi Job Sites Amid World Cup Preparations: Rights Groups
HuffPost
Separate new investigations have detailed preventable deaths of migrant workers from job-site accidents and work-related illnesses.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Scores of laborers from countries including India, Bangladesh and Nepal have faced preventable deaths from electrocution, road accidents, falling from heights, and more while working in Saudi Arabia, according to a report Wednesday by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch and another rights group, FairSquare, released separate investigations Wednesday detailing preventable deaths of migrant workers from job-site accidents and work-related illnesses.
The reports accuse Saudi authorities of often misreporting such deaths and failing to investigate, preventing families from receiving compensation from the kingdom that they are entitled to and knowing how their loved ones died.
As Saudi Arabia pushes ahead with hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure and development initiatives — including the 2034 men’s soccer World Cup and the futuristic city Neom — rights groups warn of thousands more avoidable deaths in the coming years.
In one case, Human Rights Watch said a Bangladeshi worker was electrocuted on the job. But his employer allegedly withheld the body, telling the family they would be compensated only if they agreed to a local burial. Another family reported waiting nearly 15 years before they were compensated by the Saudi government.
