Thousands of migrant workers have died since Qatar was awarded to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

After a mandatory medical examination, Phurparani Tamang was considered completely healthy and received her work visa. – Once in Qatar, she got a job as a cleaner, which she was happy with because she did not have to work outside in the sun, says her mother. One day she was taken to the hospital. – She told us there was no reason to worry. But a few days later I learned that she had died. I just cannot believe she's gone. Her body landed at Kathmandu airport just four days after she died and her mother traveled there to receive it. – Our daughter who went to support her family, left full of life, and came home dead.

It has been over two decades since Khina Bista's husband, Amit Karki, first traveled to Qatar. – Quite honestly, we have not seen him much since we got married 12 years ago. I raised our two children here at home but they never got to know their father and now he is dead, says Khina Bista. After a day of work, he complained of pain and was driven to the hospital by his colleagues. – He was dead when they arrived. We were told that it was a heart attack, says Khina Bista. The family has received 700,000 nepalese rupees from the authorities and another 1.4 million rupees from the life insurance.

Zohorul’s death in Qatar couldn’t have happened at a worse time. The family was even before his death passing through economic hardship.  They had borrowed money from a local NGO, moneylenders and relatives to send Zohorul to Qatar to work as a cleaner. Rina Akter, elder sister, and Sharmin Akter, younger sister, of Zohorul claimed that their only brother did not have any previous health complications or diseases in Bangladesh.

Four years ago, Som Bahadur Shrestha started to work as a security guard. – Since then, he did not take a single day off and was never back home, says his daughter Sangita Shrestha. They were planning for his homecoming when they found out he had died in his sleep. – The day before he died, he was shopping for his son's birthday, he bought a watch for our mother and shoes for my brother. When the body arrived at the airport together with the father's belongings, all the presents were gone. – We have tried to contact his employer, but now we have given up, says the daughter.

Two years ago, Bishnu Bahadur Bayalkoti traveled to Qatar to work as a driver. – He died while driving at work, says the widow, Maya Bayalkoti. Four other Nepalese guest workers died in the same car accident. The money he earned meant that the children could study and one daughter was married off. Now the family feels helpless. – He died at work, so I was hopeful that they would support the family of a person who gave his life for the company, but they have not yet paid. We are in shock and mourning. We're poor and I'm illiterate. What should we do? I do not know, says the widow.

Manjur Kha Pathan from Nepal died in Qatar on February 9, 2021, at the age of 40 years. His death certificate issued states that the heart disease was “unspecified” and it does not provide information about the underlying causes. His brother Ahmed Hussain told Amnesty International that Manjur worked as a truck driver and that he was healthy. They often talked about his job, and he complained about long working days, the heat and that the air conditioning in the truck was often broken. But he never complained about his health. Because he died at home and not at work, the case is not covered by the compensation laws in Qatar.