No migrant worker fund: Qatar

World Cup hosts reject calls to pay compensation to people killed or injured

DOHA:

Qatar has rejected calls for a new compensation fund for migrant workers killed or injured on its mega projects for the football World Cup, with the country's labour minister calling it a "publicity stunt".

Labour Minister Ali bin Samikh Al Marri told AFP that Qatar is already handing out hundreds of millions of dollars for unpaid wages, and accused the Gulf state's critics of "racism".

Qatar already has a fund to deal with worker deaths and injuries, and Marri said groups criticising his country should help "strengthen" it.

"This call for a duplicative FIFA-led compensation campaign is a publicity stunt," he said in an interview. "Our door is open. We have dealt with and resolved a lot of cases."

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have led demands this year for FIFA and Qatar to create a fund for workers matching the $440 million World Cup prize money.

The groups accuse Qatar of under-reporting deaths on construction sites and from heat-related illnesses in the country's searing summer temperatures.

FIFA has said there is "ongoing dialogue" about the fund, but in the government's first public comment, Marri said the proposal was unworkable.

"Every death is a tragedy," Marri said, adding: "There is no criteria to establish these funds.

"Where are the victims, do you have names of the victims, how can you get these numbers?" he asked.

Some international trade union leaders have also said a new fund would be too complicated to set up and manage.

Amnesty International official Steve Cockburn called the minister's comments "hugely disappointing".

"The vast majority of migrant workers who have now returned home to countries like Nepal or Bangladesh are unable to access Qatar's current scheme," he said.

"Qatar must expand its existing compensation funds or establish a new one -- no one is saying it is easy, but if the will is there, a solution could be found."

Marri said Qatar's existing fund would help workers who have suffered.

"If there is a person entitled to compensation who has not received it, they should come forward and we will help them," he said, adding that Qatar was ready to look at cases from more than a decade ago.