Human Rights Watch on Wednesday said grave abuses were being committed on giant construction sites in Saudi Arabia and warned the risks to migrant workers could increase as the building of stadiums for the 2034 World Cup gathers pace.HRW said “scores of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia die in gruesome yet avoidable workplace-related accidents, including falling from buildings, electrocution, and even decapitation”.The NGO, which has studied nearly 50 cases of deaths in Saudi Arabia, said Saudi authorities had “failed to adequately protect workers from preventable deaths, investigate workplace safety incidents, and ensure timely and adequate compensation for families” including through life insurance policies and benefits to survivors.”The risks of occupational deaths and injuries are further increasing as the Saudi government ramps up construction work for the 2034 World Cup as well as other ‘giga-projects’,” HRW added.The Gulf kingdom was handed the right to host the 2034 World Cup at a FIFA Congress last December despite concerns about its human rights record, the risks to migrant labourers and criminalisation of same-sex relationships. It was the only candidate.The NGO called on FIFA to ensure all work-related deaths in Saudi Arabia are properly investigated and that bereaved families receive compensation.- ‘Long and burdensome’ -FIFA has committed to establishing a workers’ welfare system, which it says includes “dedicated mandatory standards and enforcement mechanisms applicable to all companies and workers involved in… World Cup-related construction and service delivery” in Saudi Arabia. But HRW said football’s world governing body did not provide “details on concrete measures to prevent, investigate, and compensate migrant worker deaths such as risk-based heat protection measures or life insurance”.The NGO claimed “FIFA is knowingly risking yet another tournament that will unnecessarily come at a grave human cost”, referencing the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.Similar concerns over workers’ welfare dogged Qatar ahead of its hosting of international football’s showpiece tournament.Amnesty International and other rights groups claimed thousands of migrant workers died in the lead-up to the 2022 tournament, though Doha has said only 37 workers on World Cup projects perished — and only three in work-related accidents.HRW stated in its report that the majority of migrant worker deaths in Saudi Arabia are attributed to “natural causes” and are therefore neither investigated nor compensated.According to figures provided by the NGO, for example, 74 percent of 1,420 Indian migrant worker deaths recorded at the Indian embassy in Riyadh in 2023 were attributed to natural causes.HRW added “even work-related death cases categorised as such in a migrant worker’s death certificate are sometimes not compensated as they should be according to Saudi law and international labour standards”.”In migrant death cases that are compensated, the process is long and burdensome,” the report said, providing an example of one such compensation process that took a decade to be completed.”My sons are 11 and 13 years old. When my husband died, they were 11 months and two years old. If we had received compensation right after his death, it would have provided so much relief,” the wife of a deceased worker, who was not named, told HRW.In response to the report, FIFA shared with AFP a letter it sent last month to HRW from its secretary general Mattias Grafstrom.The letter says Saudi Arabia has “in the past years been investing heavily in the development of its society and economy”, using international companies.Grafstrom notes that Saudi Arabia “has taken significant steps to reform its labour laws since 2018”, including the abolition of parts of the kafala system which ties workers to their employers, and introducing standardised contracts for workers.The Saudi government, he says, has also committed to working with the United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO) “on the further expansion and effective implementation of these reforms”.”In line with its human rights commitments, FIFA seeks to play its part in ensuring strong protections for workers employed by third parties in the construction of FIFA World Cup sites,” Grafstrom adds.AFP has also contacted the Saudi government for comment.

The sound of fireworks and applause rang out in Syria’s major cities overnight, as Syrians celebrated US President Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on the devastated country.In Syria’s second city Aleppo, dozens of men, women and children took to the central Saadallah al-Jabiri Square, waving the new Syrian flag and singing.Hours earlier in Riyadh, Trump announced he would lift sanctions on Syria, as the country seeks to rebuild after the December ouster of longtime president Bashar al-Assad.Soap factory owner Zain al-Jabali, 54, rushed to the square as soon as she heard the news.”These sanctions were imposed on Assad, but… now that Syria has been liberated, there will be a positive impact on industry, it’ll boost the economy and encourage people to return,” she told AFP.Amid the sound of cars honking in celebration, 26-year-old Ghaith Anbi described the news as “the second joy since the fall of Assad”.”Lifting the sanctions on the Syrian people will have a very positive impact on reconstruction and rebuilding infrastructure, especially in Aleppo as an economic city,” the civil engineer told AFP.”There will be great economic prosperity for the Syrian people,” he said.- ‘Turning point’ -In the Saudi capital on Tuesday, Trump announced he was lifting the “brutal and crippling” Assad-era sanctions, in response to demands from new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa’s allies in Turkey and Saudi Arabia.Trump said it was Syrians’ “time to shine” and that easing sanctions would “give them a chance at greatness”.The Syrian foreign ministry called Trump’s decision a “pivotal turning point” that would help bring stability, draw in investment and reintegrate the country into the global economy.Finance Minister Mohammed Barnieh said Trump’s lifting of sanctions “will help Syria in building its institutions, providing essential services to the people and will create great opportunities to attract investment and restore confidence in Syria’s future”.The United States imposed sweeping restrictions on financial transactions with Syria during the brutal civil war that began in 2011, targeting the ousted president, his family members and key government and economic figures.In 2020, new sanctions came into effect under a US law known as the Caesar Act, punishing any companies linked to Assad in efforts to force accountability for human rights abuses and to encourage a political solution.”These sanctions only ever hurt the Syrian people, not the regime,” 63-year-old Taqi al-Din Najjar told AFP from Aleppo.In Damascus, dozens more gathered in the capital’s iconic Umayyad Square, chanting and singing in joy.”My joy is great. This decision will definitely affect the entire country positively. Construction will return, the displaced will return, and prices will go down,” said Hiba Qassar, a 33-year-old English teacher.Ahmed Asma, 34, expressed hopes that “now that the sanctions are lifted we can live as we did before, or even better”.”We hope this is the start of a new era for Syria,” he told AFP as he drove through the square.

US President Donald Trump asked Syria’s new leader on Wednesday to normalise relations with Israel after he offered a major boost to the war-ravaged country by announcing the lifting of sanctions.Trump, on a state visit to Riyadh, became the first US president in 25 years to meet a Syrian leader — Ahmed al-Sharaa, an erstwhile Islamist guerrilla and onetime jihadist once on a US wanted list who led the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December.The interim Syrian president and Trump, wearing matching suits, shook hands as they met jointly with Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. and, by video link, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the key supporter of the new government in Damascus.Turkey and Saudi Arabia had both advocated reconciliation with Syria but the move is the latest to put Trump at odds with Israel, which has voiced pessimism over Sharaa and ramped up strikes to degrade the longtime adversary’s military capabilities.The White House said that Trump asked the Syrian leader to normalise relations with Israel by joining the so-called Abraham Accords signed by some Gulf Arab states.Trump also asked Sharaa to deport Palestinian militants and tell foreign fighters to leave the country, as well as to take control of camps for captured Islamic State group fighters, currently run by Kurdish militants opposed by Turkey, the White House said.Syria’s foreign ministry hailed the meeting as “historic”, but did not mention the Abraham Accords. Syrian state media also did not mention normalisation.The foreign ministry said the leaders discussed “avenues for Syrian-American partnership in counterterrorism efforts” and the importance of lifting sanctions and supporting reconstruction. After the longer-than-expected half-hour meeting, Trump said the Assad-era sanctions had been “really crippling” on Syria.”It’s not going to be easy anyway, so it gives them a good, strong chance, and it was my honour to do so,” Trump said, addressing Gulf Arab leaders.- Biggest applause -The former reality television host, always attuned to crowd sizes, took note of the rapturous reception when he announced the decision at a Riyadh investment forum Tuesday.”That was the thing that got the biggest applause from the room. We had a very crowded room with thousands of people,” Trump said.After the announcement, Syrians celebrated the easing of sanctions, with dozens of men, women and children gathering in Damascus’s Umayyad Square.”My joy is great. This decision will definitely affect the entire country positively,” said Huda Qassar, a 33-year-old English-language teacher.The Syrian foreign ministry called Trump’s decision a “pivotal turning point”.The United States imposed sweeping restrictions on financial transactions with Syria during the brutal civil war and made clear it would use sanctions to punish anyone involved in reconstruction so long as Assad remained in power without accountability for atrocities.Trump gave no indication that the United States would remove Syria from its blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism — a designation dating back to 1979 over support to Palestinian militants that severely impedes investment.A senior envoy of the Joe Biden administration met Sharaa in Damascus in December and called for commitments, including on the protection of minorities.In recent weeks, Syria has seen a series of bloody attacks on minority groups, including Alawites — the sect of the largely secular Assad family — and the Druze.Rabha Seif Allam of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo said easing US sanctions would help reintegrate Syria with the global economy by allowing bank transfers from investors and from millions of Syrians who fled during the civil war.”Lifting sanctions will give Syria a real opportunity to receive the funding needed to revive the economy, impose central state authority and launch reconstruction projects with clear Gulf support,” she said.- Qatar plane controversy -Trump later heads to Qatar, which has stirred controversy by offering a $400 million luxury aircraft to serve as a new Air Force One and then go to Trump’s personal use.The move raises major constitutional and ethical questions — as well as security concerns about a foreign power donating the ultra-sensitive presidential jet.Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, Tuesday vowed to hold up all Justice Department political appointees in protest over the move. Qatar has been a key intermediary with Hamas, helping Washington negotiate directly the release this week from Gaza of US-Israeli joint national Edan Alexander.