Saudi Arabia sports minister says investigation opened into worker death at 2034 World Cup stadium site

The Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Sport, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal, said that an investigation was underway in the death of an employee on the construction site of a stadium at the World Cup 2034 and claimed that local officials “seriously” aware of the rights of the workers in the Gulf Nation.

Muhammad Arshad, a foreman from Pakistan in his mid -thirty, died on March 12 at the location of Aramco Stadium in Al Khobar, According to the guardian. Arshad fell from an upper level of the construction site to his death and he is the first well-known death associated with the construction of the 2034 World Cup that will be organized in Saudi Arabia. The nation officially won the hosting rights in December, but the unconventional decision of the FIFA in October 2023 meant that Saudi Arabia was the actual hosts for a long time before the formal announcement.

“Every incident we take seriously, we submit an investigation, we look at what went wrong,” said Al-Faisal on Sunday before the Saudi-Arab Grand Prix of Formula 1, Per ESPN. “Unfortunately, in construction, these things happen. We don’t want them to happen … As soon as it was emphasized, we have submitted an investigation, we have checked what is happening, we ensure that they put the right system in it and ensure that it no longer happens in Aramco Stadium. And we guide it with the contractors and so on to ensure that these things are aware of the world.”

Human rights groups have been critical of the FIFA decision to allocate Saudi Aarabia to the World Cup rights from 2034 to Saudi Aarabia, especially because it relates to the impact of the construction projects on the migrating employees and the local population that will be affected by them.

“Tegenwoordig is er geen tekort aan bewijs dat werknemers van migranten worden uitgebuit en onderworpen aan racisme, activisten veroordeeld tot tientallen jaren in de gevangenis omdat ze zich vreedzaam uiten, vrouwen en LGBTI -mensen die worden geconfronteerd met gelegaliseerde discriminatie, of bewoners die gedwongen worden uitgezet om plaats te maken voor staatsprojecten,” Human Rights Watch en Amnesty International, zeiden in een andere, said in another of human rights and Amnesty International, among other things, said in another joint statement in December. “It is clear that without urgent action and extensive reforms, the World Cup 2034 will be affected by repression, discrimination and exploitation on a massive scale.”

In the case of Arshad there is ensure that his employer, the Belgian construction company Besix Group, has not followed the Saudi law since his death. In the days after his death, the Arshad family – who includes his three young sons, between two and seven years old – did not receive compensation, as required by law. There are also reports that employees in the Aramco Stadium were ordered to remove videos and images related to the death of Arshad and that they should not talk about it.

“We have just fallen from heaven to the ground.” It will have a long -term impact on their lives. Arshad’s income was their only source of life. We will have to bear their livelihood and educational costs. We will try to meet their needs. “

The concern about working conditions in Saudi Aarabia comes shortly after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where various migrating employees died while building stadiums. Although local officials said that only three employees died in work-related accidents and 37 others died in non-work-related incidents, the count could be considerably higher. In February 2021, The Guardian estimated that more than 6,500 employees died While building Qatar’s World Cup stadiums, although the exact figure remains unclear.

Al-Faisal claims that officials in his country have learned the lessons of the World Cup in Qatar.

“We learned from that, said Al-Faisal.” We met the Qataris what they have experienced, what they have experienced. We also have continuous communication with them, with FIFA, also about what needs to be done, how do we ensure that the safety of employees is a highest priority. And it is a mandate for us, and it is one of the most important things on us because we have seen the impact it had on Qatar. “

FIFA has not commented on the death of Arshad at the moment.