IT IS “unconscionable” that the 2022 Qatar World Cup is being “built on the back of modern slavery,” the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) told the Star yesterday.

General secretary Sharan Burrow attacked Fifa and the oil-rich Gulf state days after the Dutch union federation FNV threatened football’s world governing body with legal action over the continued abuse of migrant workers in Qatar, in this particular case a 21-year-old Bangladeshi construction worker.

“Fifa has the power to insist on change and has chosen not to act,” Burrow told the Star. “There has been several years of failure by Fifa to stand up to its responsibilities and stand up to human rights.