This is where the FIFA World Cup final will soon be held...
the Lusail Stadium in Qatar.
In just four years, it went from this...
to this.
It has 80,000 seats...
and cost more than $700 million to build.
It's the biggest stadium in the Middle East.
But it's more than that.
Over a decade ago, Qatar had hoped
that hosting a mega sporting event in stadiums like these
would put it on the map.
But today, stadiums like Lusail are a symbol
of how a country can build grand infrastructure
to further its own interests
and how those ambitions can trap thousands.
"...migrant workers lost their lives in the construction of the stadiums..."
"...forced to labor under extremely poor conditions..."
"Migrants working on infrastructure projects have died or suffered abuse."
"The logical source of oil for Europe is the Middle East..."
Since the 1940s, when Qatar discovered huge reserves of oil and then gas
it's been one of the richest countries on Earth.
70% of the government's revenue comes from oil and gas exports.
Thanks to all that wealth
Qatar has gone through a remarkable transformation.
The capital, Doha, for instance, went from fishing town...
to world class city in just a couple of decades
complete with extraordinary museums and fancy hotels.
But in recent years, the world has been turning to renewable energy
making the oil and gas market Qatar relies on
even less dependable.
And in the Gulf, the country has seen regional tensions surge
most notably in 2017, when neighboring countries
issued a blockade against Qatar...
cutting off trade and travel.
It cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars.
So to diversify and protect its economy...
Qatar has started leaning into another area
that helped establish its status as a wealthy nation...
sports.
That repositioning is based on soft power.
Qatar is trying to secure friends when in need.
Particularly powerful friends from the West
like the United States and the UK.
And so the best way to do that
is through these soft sectors like sports.
In the last 18 years, Qatar has held more than 20 major sporting events.
But nothing compares to the 2022 World Cup.
"The winner is... Qatar."
Qatar won the rights to host the World Cup in 2010.
"Today we celebrate, but tomorrow...
the work begins."
It had made an unbeatable promise to FIFA.
It would spend more money
than any host had ever done before.
$200 billion.
And it delivered.
Since then, Qatar has built up 8 stadiums.
It's built dozens of hotels and laid down miles of roads
and metro lines to connect all that infrastructure.
They've even completed a whole new city
with golf courses, marinas, and a theme park.
It can brag that it is the first Middle Eastern country
that's ever hosted a mega sporting event.
To be able to do that
you have a lot of partners, including FIFA itself
and all the celebrity ambassadors who are vouching for Qatar
having these incredible world class stadiums, these glowing, glistening hotels.
You can come to Doha and feel secure
that you're experiencing a world that's business savvy
that's modern and advanced.
While the spotlight was supposed to show Qatar
as a shining example of development...
it also exposed one of its darkest secrets.
To power decades of development
Qatar has relied on a constant supply of temporary, low paid workers
mainly from South Asia and East Africa.
Since the early 2000s, so many foreigners have come to work in Qatar
they now make up 80% of the total population.
They build, clean, serve, and staff pretty much every industry.
When we think about how migrant workers recruitment journey commences
we think about workers who are
in extremely low wage situations.
So they are looking for a place where they can emigrate...
to allow them some upward socioeconomic mobility.
And Qatar promises them that mobility.
Typically, Qatari companies hire international recruitment agencies
that find workers to send over.
They promise these workers well-paying jobs
in exchange for illegal recruitment fees upfront.
They also have the workers pay for medical tests
passports, flights, the visa...
all to get the job contract.
The workers often take out loans in their home countries
to pay the agencies incurring significant debt.
It's a huge transnational...
cross-border operation...
which completely screws workers at the start of their journey.
Workers often use their family's savings to pay for a job
in one of the richest countries per capita in the world.
They arrive in Qatar often to find
they're not getting the job and salary promised
and can't do anything about it...
because they've now entered the country's kafala system.
It's a uniquely restrictive immigration system
that can take different forms in different industries.
But they all have one crucial thing in common.
Kafala legally ties the immigrant's immigration status
to their employer.
Meaning an individual employer
has to sponsor their worker
which gives them an inordinate amount of power over them.
They can control when their employees job ends
or if they can change jobs.
They can control if and when migrants leave the country.
Often by confiscating their passports.
And they can also control the worker's ability
to renew their residency and work permit.
But beyond the restrictions on a migrant's freedom of movement
the system also traps them in a cycle of abuse.
And that became evident when Qatar started preparing for the World Cup.
To deliver on the infrastructure Qatar promised
it tapped into its migrant pipeline
and recruited hundreds of thousands of new workers.
When Qatar was awarded the World Cup in 2010...
all of the people involved in decision making
knew that the World Cup would be built
based on the kafala system.
Thousands of migrants turned into construction workers
to build stadiums like Lusail
which became the site for human rights abuses
that ranged from verbal abuse to death.
Several investigations into Qatar's stadiums
revealed that employers usually house workers
in private camps far from city centers...
where they are forced to live in overcrowded rooms
and unsanitary conditions.
And at work, their lives are put at risk.
Migrant workers are often given the most dangerous jobs on the site
and can be forced to work up to 14 hour days
in Qatar's extreme heat.
The day this photo of the Lusail stadium was taken
the high in Doha reached 109 degrees Fahrenheit.
They have spent so many hours in the blistering sun...
and after that they only permitted
a five minute break to eat
and they eat standing and then go back.
Whenever you're also up on a scaffolding, coming down for a bathroom break
might get you in trouble with your boss.
And so you end up drinking less water
despite the need to have it
to avoid heat exhaustion.
The number of work-related migrant deaths
surrounding stadiums remains unclear
due to Qatar's lack of transparency.
In fact, that's the case for the entire kafala system.
But there have been some clues along the way.
The death certificates Nepal has received
with the bodies sent back from Qatar
show that nearly 120 Nepalese migrants
have died on the job since 2008.
The real number, though, is likely much higher.
In 2019, a study examined the link between Nepalese worker deaths
and heat exposure and concluded heatstroke
was a likely cause of cardiovascular deaths.
That alone could raise the number of just Nepali migrant worker deaths
to about 600.
In addition to living and working in abusive conditions
many are also not getting paid for their work.
Workers have repeatedly faced wage theft.
So then the debt keeps racking up
because the debt still exists and in many cases
workers have still not been able to survive on a daily basis.
This is one of the richest countries in the world
and yet they haven't been able to accelerate
its reforms and ensuring people have been paid on time.
Some workers try to file complaints, only to find
there are few effective mechanisms in place.
And speaking out comes with risk of retaliation...
which has kept migrants isolated in the kafala system
with increasing debt and unable to access justice.
After years of mounting pressure
from human rights organizations and a formal complaint
that reached the UN's International Labor Organization...
in 2017, Qatar signed an agreement
promising to align its laws and labor practices
to international standards.
In 2020, 10 years after construction for the World Cup began
Qatar implemented a minimum wage for workers
and now allows them to terminate
their employment contract.
But...
The challenge with the minimum wage laws is enforcement.
Employers started pushing back against the government.
And so even though we haven't seen amendments to the legislation.
Indeed, we're seeing a watering down of reforms.
And for the migrants who have already been abused to the kafala system.
This is all too late.
Civil rights groups and football associations
are now calling for a remedy fund
to compensate the migrant workers financially.
And some teams have taken a stand in the field...
and on social media.
"We have learned that the decision
to host the World Cup in Qatar
which resulted in the suffering
and harm of countless of our fellow workers..."
Making this year's World Cup
a particularly difficult one to watch.
Millions of football fans
will still tune in and cheer for their favorite teams.
But after that final match is over...
and the trophy is awarded...
stadiums like Lusail will continue to be a grim reminder
that it all came at a human cost.