Human rights group Amnesty International has called on Fifa to take a stance against the “abuse of migrant workers” in Qatar, the host for the 2022 World Cup.

Amnesty International claims in a 166-page report that workers arriving in Qatar to work on construction projects related to the tournament in nine years’ time are subjected to “non-payment of wages, harsh and dangerous working conditions, and shocking standards of accommodation.”

Amnesty International’s secretary general Salil Shetty said: “Our findings indicate an alarming level of exploitation in the construction sector in Qatar.

“Fifa has a duty to send a strong public message that it will not tolerate human rights abuses on construction projects related to the World Cup.

“Qatar is recruiting migrant workers at a remarkable rate to support its construction boom, with the population increasing at 20 people an hour. Many migrants arrive in Qatar full of hopes, only to have these crushed soon after they arrive. There’s no time to delay — the government must act now to end this abuse.”

Foreign workers in Qatar on residence permits must be “sponsored,” meaning that they are tied to one employer whose permission they need to leave the country.

Photographs in the Amnesty report show that workers are forced to live in squalid, cramped, windowless accommodation in labour camps and are kept from districts where Qatari families live.

On Monday the Qatari organisation responsible for the 2022 Fifa World Cup said it had had a “productive discussion” with Amnesty.

The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee said that companies building projects for the 2022 World Cup will be forced to guarantee welfare standards for workers.