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

Mosharaf Hossen decided to migrate to Qatar to fulfill his dream of lifting his family out of poverty. For five years he worked as a mason at different construction sites but newer got payed on a regular basis. “The sudden and untimely death put us, a five-member family in dire hardship and debt bondage,” says Mosharaf’s widow Josna Begum. Her husband died on August 8, 2018 at the age of 38. The official cause of death was “cardiac chock” according to his death certificate.

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.

On January 30, an air conditioning system exploded in the kitchen where Nuruddin worked. One month later, the family received his body from Qatar, where he had traveled four years earlier to work as a chef. His wife says that during the ten years she was married to Nuruddin, she almost never met him. - We got married over the phone when he worked in Dubai and we barely met a few days during our ten-year marriage, says Mosamamat Nazma Akter Beauty Chowdhury who is 26. Now she has to support the family alone. - My only wish now is for our two sons to be able to stay in school.

Yam Bahadur Rana from Nepal died in Qatar on February 22, 2020, at the age of 34. He was married and had two children: a daughter who was 11 and a son who was 13 years old. The death certificate states the cause as “acute heart failure due to natural causes”. Yam worked as a security guard at Hamad International Airport. His wife Bhumisara Rana tells Amnesty International that she believes his death has to do with the working conditions. – He had to sit out under the sun for long periods. I think he had a heart attack because he was dehydrated. He never said he was sick, she tells Amnesty.

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.

Sujan Miah from Bangladesh was 32 years old when he died in Qatar on September 24, 2020. The official death certificate states that he died of natural causes. But Sujan's brother tells Amnesty International that he was completely healthy when he left. In Qatar, he worked laying pipes in the desert. All his work was done outdoors in the heat and during the four days preceding his death it was 40 degrees in the shade. Sujan's siblings describe the loss as “inconceivable” to Amnesty staff who met the family in Bangladesh.