Workers Pay for Boom Town with Their Lives

Still many in the field do not believe the Iraqi Kurdish government is doing enough. “The low number of inspectors from the Ministry and the absence of any respect for legislation means that the number of companies liable to be prosecuted is actually a lot smaller than the number who are breaking laws and endangering lives,” Zindani says.

In fact, at least one Iraqi Kurdish MP believes local laws cater to businesses in Iraqi Kurdistan rather than their workers. “How many companies were forced to stop work over the deaths of workers? How many were blacklisted?” MP Shirko Hama Amin asked in an interview with NIQASH. “the measures being taken against these companies are negligible. Nothing’s really been held against them. And that’s the real reason why this carelessness will just continue.”

As for the family of deceased construction site worker, Mustafa Ali, they continue to grieve as well as to try and get some justice for their father. Son Azad continues to fear for his own safety – he too works in construction now.

“I’m not the only one who feels like this,” Azad told NIQASH. “All of those workers who have nothing but their jobs are afraid of this fate. I’m afraid to die like my father and I’m afraid that whoever I leave behind will be treated the same way as we have been treated.”