Scores of laborers from countries including Bangladesh, India, 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, according to reports from AP.
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 football 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.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia did not respond to a request for comment.
Saudi Arabia has long faced allegations of labour abuses and wage theft tied to its Vision 2030 project, a big-money effort to diversify its economy beyond dependence on oil.
FIFA shared with the AP a letter it sent Human Rights Watch last month defending the selection of Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 World Cup.
The letter cited the Saudis’ commitments to establishing “a workers’ welfare system” and enhancing “country-wide labour protections including through a strengthened collaboration” with the United Nations’ International Labor Organization.
The kingdom is not the only Gulf Arab state to be accused of abusing migrant laborers in the run-up to a World Cup. Rights groups also criticised Qatar, which hosted the competition in 2022, saying they tallied thousands of unexplained worker deaths.
But this time has the potential to be even worse for foreign workers, with one expert noting that the 2034 World Cup has plans to require more stadiums and infrastructure with more teams competing.
The details of the investigations from Human Rights Watch and FairSquare come a day after FIFA President Gianni Infantino joined US President Donald Trump on his official visit to Saudi Arabia, where Trump met with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.