The announcement that Qatar will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup sparked celebrations in Doha, marking the first time the championship would be staged in the Arab region.
But the decision, which was made in 2010, also drew immediate criticism, including questions about the viability of holding a sporting event in a nation where summer temperatures routinely reach 100 degrees, claims of bribery and corruption against FIFA officials who supported Qatar, and worries about ongoing human rights violations.
The Gulf nation is now anticipating the arrival of more than a million supporters as the World Cup is only days away. And billions more people will watch the 64 games of the tournament. But the debates are still going strong.
Former FIFA president said it was a mistake to choose Qatar to host the World Cup.
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Former FIFA president said it was a mistake to choose Qatar to host the World Cup.
Recently, even the previous president of FIFA criticized the choice of Qatar.
“It was a poor decision. And as president at the time, I was accountable for it “Sepp Blatter, whose tenure as FIFA’s executive director came to an end in 2015 due to a bribery scandal, remarked.
Poor infrastructure and migrant worker fatalities
The World Cup is a complicated international athletic event that attracts large numbers of spectators and necessitates the infrastructure to support them. Qatar is the smallest country to ever host it.
Qatar is nearly 20% smaller than Connecticut with only 4,471 square miles. The majority of the nation’s 2.8 million inhabitants dwell in the region around the capital Doha, which is surrounded by a desolate sandy plain.
When it was chosen to host the tournament in 2010, Qatar lacked several of the stadiums, hotels, and roads necessary. The nation relied on its sizable population of migrant laborers, who make up 90% or more of its labor force, to construct them. (Only roughly 300,000 people who live in Qatar are nationals of that country. Migrant workers, whose visas are linked to their employment—a system that is widespread in the Middle East—far outnumber them.)
FIFA reverses course and forbids alcohol sales at the stadiums hosting the World Cup in Qatar.
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FIFA reverses course and forbids alcohol sales at the stadiums hosting the World Cup in Qatar.
PARALLELS
Qatar’s System for Migrant Workers is Under Fire as the World Cup Approaches
For such migratory laborers, living and working circumstances were typically hazardous and exploitative. More than 6,500 migrant workers from five south Asian nations have perished in Qatar since 2010 from all reasons, including work-related accidents, automobile accidents, suicides, and fatalities from other factors including the heat, according to a 2021 investigation by the Guardian.
“Some of them consist of construction workers who passed away after collapsing on the job site while building the stadium. Others who were traveling to work on a corporate bus perished in traffic collisions. And other more in their labor camps passed very abruptly and mysteriously “affirmed Pete Pattison, one of the reporters working on the inquiry, in a 2016 NPR interview.
Qatar and FIFA both contest that figure. Qatar acknowledges the deaths of 37 employees that were “non-work-related” but claims that just three individuals have died as a direct consequence of working on World Cup construction sites.
The World Cup is seen by Qatar as a “great chance to strengthen welfare standards,” and the country’s authorities claim that working conditions have improved as a result: The nation implemented a set of Workers’ Welfare Standards in 2014, resulting in additional safeguards (although advocates say the new regulations are not always enforced).
More Than 6,500 Migrant Workers Have Died in Qatar’s World Cup Preparations, According to a MIDDLE EAST Report
In May, a group of human rights organizations urged FIFA and Qatar to establish a remedy fund, which would be a pot of money that could be used to make amends for mistreatment of migrant workers and the families of those killed while constructing stadiums and other World Cup-related infrastructure.
They assert that the fund should have a minimum value of $440 million, which is the same as the World Cup prize money.
“We think that athletes don’t want to play in venues where construction workers lost their lives. Fans, in our opinion, don’t want to utilize hotels or metros that cost workers their lives to construct “Human Rights Watch, one of the groups advocating for the fund, is represented by Minky Worden, director of global projects.
Other violations of human rights
Concerns about violations of human rights extend beyond how migrant workers are handled. The human rights situation in Qatar is poor, to put it simply, Worden told NPR.
This Monday, Human Rights Watch published a 42-page study detailing what it called “the various human rights concerns surrounding Qatar’s preparations for the 2022 World Cup,” urging media to consider issues outside of sports.
Ahead of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar’s human rights record is under the spotlight.
THINK ABOUT THIS FROM NPR
Ahead of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar’s human rights record is under the spotlight.
The criminalization of extramarital sex under Qatar’s penal law has resulted in rape victims being prosecuted. Additionally, homosexuality is practically illegal: Males who “instigate” or “entice” another man to perform “an act of sodomy or immorality” may be sentenced to one to three years in jail in addition to a seven-year maximum sentence for sex between men.
One of the Qatari World Cup ambassadors recently defined homosexuality as “harm in the head” in an interview with a German television.
“The most crucial factor is that everyone would tolerate their presence. However, they must abide by our guidelines “added ex-national team player for Qatar Khalid Salman, the ambassador. The U.S. State Department was one of several western authorities to strongly denounce the remarks.
LGBTQ persons are allegedly subjected to conversion therapy, harassment by the police, and jail in Qatar, according to advocates.
Dr. Nasser Mohamed, who was reared in an extremely traditional Qatari environment and requested asylum in the United States out of concern about possible discrimination due to his sexual orientation, stated, “The dread is so, so genuine.”
At the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the United States will have one of its youngest squads ever.
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At the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the United States will have one of its youngest squads ever.
The Qatari embassy told NPR that Qatar is a “quite conservative culture” and that the “safety of all guests is of the highest priority” to the host nation.
The statement said, “Everyone will be welcome in Qatar during the World Cup.” We only ask that all tourists respect and honor our culture as they would if they were visiting other countries or regions of the globe.
allegations of corruption and bribery
Allegations of bribery and corruption have long plagued the choice of Qatar to host the World Cup.
Following a series of votes by FIFA officials, the choice was made public in 2010. Over proposals from the United States, South Korea, Japan, and Australia, Qatar prevailed.
Numerous representatives of FIFA and other organizations have been charged with taking or seeking bribes to steer the World Cup to Qatar over the years.
James Montague, a journalist who has written about Qatar and the World Cup, said in an interview with NPR’s Throughline that there have been “just so many allegations of corruption against the Qatari bid – of political machinations going on, in terms of government deals, gas deals between countries that would have a vote on who would host the World Cup finals.”
World Cup THROUGHLINE from Qatar
World Cup in Qatar
Twelve of the FIFA executives engaged in the selection have subsequently been banned from the association, including Blatter, its former president, or have been charged with wrongdoing. Michel Platini, a former president of European soccer and legendary French soccer player, was detained in 2019 as part of an inquiry into a $2 million payment related to his attempts to bring the World Cup to Qatar. Platini and Blatter both said they did nothing illegal.
A FIFA investigation in 2014 cleared Qatari authorities of any wrongdoing, enabling the competition to proceed.
For many athletes, the November schedule has been challenging.
Summertime is the customary time for the World Cup. However, because to the extreme heat and humidity in Qatar throughout the summer, the event was moved to November. (The games will also take place in venues with air conditioning.)
Professional soccer has been greatly impacted by the scheduling, particularly in Europe, where the majority of league calendars normally stretch from late summer through the following spring. Premier League in England, Bundesliga in Germany, and La Liga in Spain are just a few of the top professional leagues that have declared two-month pauses to accommodate the World Cup.
Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” soccer ball is up for sale.
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Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” soccer ball is up for sale.
According to a recent assessment by FIFPRO, the organization that speaks on behalf of 65,000 players worldwide, that crammed schedule has put “unprecedented workload expectations” on the players.
The analysis revealed that historically, Premier League players have had an average of 31 days to prepare and 37 days to recuperate for a normal midsummer World Cup. According to the union, prep and recuperation times were reduced to seven and eight days this year.
The research claims that “overlapping tournaments, back-to-back matches, harsh weather, a rushed preparation period, and inadequate recuperation time all represent an alarming hazard to player health and performance.”
