A Human Rights Watch report says many of the 16,000 migrant workers – who are building luxury hotels and sports complexes for the $50-billion 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia – are underpaid and overworked. The Toronto Star reports, “The 67-page report – one of a series on abuses linked with the Olympic Games – chronicles allegations of exploitive conditions faced by migrant workers from economically depressed Central Asia, Armenia, Ukraine and Serbia. They range from nonpayment of wages to slashed pay, confiscated documents and unhealthy food and lodgings.”
Jane Buchanan, the associate Europe and Central Asia director for Human Rights Watch, says, “Some of them were cheated out of their wages, others had their documents taken away. They work in 12-hour shifts with very little time off. Many are afraid to talk about the abuses they’d experienced. …The situation is so commonplace they just accept it, because they have few other choices for supporting their families. …It was stunning to see bunk beds built in three tiers in single-family houses. Many of them had outdoor (plumbing), and most of them were slated for demolition. …The world should not cheer Winter Games in Russia that are built on a foundation of exploitation and abuse.”
The Toronto Star has previously reported on the “frenzy of construction underway, carving an all-important road-and-rail corridor linking the icy mountains to the palm-lined seashore” for the Olympic Games in Russia. “The work is so aggressive that Russian environmentalists withdrew from the project in disgust, accusing Moscow of breaking its own laws, permanently trashing a rare and pristine wilderness in its quest to reclaim global glory. (It was noted that) pollutants, like arsenium, are washing into the watershed due to the disturbance from so many construction sites.”
In 2010, the Council of Canadians raised numerous concerns about the Winter Olympics in Whistler/ Vancouver, including corporate sponsorship by Coca-Cola, the use of public funds better spent on meeting public needs, the failure of the Harper government to respect a United Nations call for a truce in Afghanistan during the Games, and environmental impacts, including the damage done by the $980-million Sea-to-Sky highway expansion between Vancouver and Whistler. We also highlighted that these Olympic Games were being held on unceded First Nations territories and provided mining, resort, real estate and energy developers with opportunities to continue expansion of projects on Indigenous territories throughout the province.
Today’s news article is at http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/02/06/sochi_olympics_migrant_workers_abused_at_russias_olympic_construction_sites_human_rights_group_says.html. An April 2010 campaign blog ‘Mzymta River watershed endangered by 2014 Olympic Games’ is at http://canadians.org/blog/?p=2823. To see a powerful video of Council of Canadians Board member Chief Garry John at a protest against the Olympics in Vancouver, please go to http://canadians.org/blog/?p=2572.
