Rights groups say migrant workers are dying on Saudi job sites as kingdom prepares for World Cup

In this May 8, 2014, file photo a man works on construction of the Kingdom Tower, a planned 252-story building, which aims to become the world's tallest skyscraper when complete, in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.(AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Scores of laborers from countries including India, Bangladesh 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.

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 soccer 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.

“It’s very urgent that the Saudi authorities and FIFA put in place basic labor rights protections,” Minky Worden, Human Rights Watch’s director of global initiatives, told The Associated Press, referring to soccer’s world governing body.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia did not respond to a request for comment.

FairSquare, which looked into the deaths of 17 Nepali contractors in Saudi Arabia over the last 18 months, warned in its report that without accountability, “thousands of unexplained deaths” of low-paid foreign workers are likely to follow.

“In some cases, you have families being pursued by money lenders for the loans that their (dead) husband or father took out in order to migrate to the Gulf,” said James Lynch, who co-directs FairSquare.

Saudi Arabia has long faced allegations of labor 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 labor 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 criticized 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, Worden said, noting that the 2034 World Cup has plans to require more stadiums and infrastructure with more teams competing.

Qatar established an oversight board called the Supreme Committee, which monitored FIFA construction sites and took reports of unsafe work conditions.

“There’s no such committee like that in Saudi Arabia,” Worden said, adding, “In the end, Qatar did have concrete policies like life insurance and heat protection. Those aren’t in place now” in Saudi Arabia.

The details of the investigations from Human Rights Watch and FairSquare come a day after FIFA President Gianni Infantino joined U.S. 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.

Gabe Levin, The Associated Press