Scores of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia have died in gruesome yet avoidable workplace-related accidents, including falling from buildings, electrocution, and even decapitation. Many migrant deaths in Saudi Arabia are erroneously classified as “natural” and are neither investigated nor compensated. The process for compensation for work-related accidents is long and burdensome. Saudi authorities, FIFA, and other employers should ensure that all migrant worker deaths, regardless of perceived cause, time, and place are properly investigated and families of deceased workers are treated with dignity, and receive fair and timely compensation.
Many of these “migrants” are actually modern slaves. Their passport is often taken from them and they are not allowed to leave.
Qatar’s whole society works on this. They’re one of the richest countries because almost all citizens are the aristocracy, while everything is run with migrant labor. They outlawed slavery, in 1952. They replaced that with the Kafala system, which is as you describe. Don’t worry though, they outlawed Kafala in 2016.