Almost a year after the World Cup in Qatar, there is still criticism from human rights organizations. Accordingly, the situation of guest workers in Qatar has hardly improved. Organizations such as Amnesty International see not only the world football association FIFA but also the German Football Association (DFB) as having a duty.
According to the human rights organization Amnesty International (AI), the situation of guest workers in Qatar has hardly improved a year after the opening game of the World Cup on November 20, 2022. According to Amnesty, the compensation demanded by many sides for the workers who suffered human rights violations in connection with construction work during the World Cup is still missing, according to Amnesty.
“Qatar is failing to advance or even properly enforce its labor reforms introduced before the World Cup. This is not the positive legacy that the Qatari government promised migrant workers with the World Cup.”said Middle East expert Katja Müller-Fahlbusch: “We urge the government to improve protections for workers’ rights – particularly with regard to illegal recruitment fees, wage theft and job switching.”
Amnesty International: “Abuse of Migrant workers continues unabated”
The abuse of migrant workers continues unabated a year after the World Cup, according to an investigative report by Amnesty International. “As soon as Qatar disappeared from the global spotlight after the World Cup, the government’s efforts to advocate for fair and better working conditions for the hundreds of thousands of men and women who helped make Qatar’s dream of a World Cup come true diminished” said the report.
Also Human Rights Watch (HRW) confirmed that a year after the World Cup in Qatar, human rights violations were still the order of the day and promised labor law reforms had largely not been implemented. “The World Cup was a catastrophe for football, for the players, for the fans and for the guest workers” said HRW Director Minky Worden: “It’s a terrible stain on FIFA’s history.“
The editorial team at WDR Sport inside also revealed in the fifth part of the documentary series “World Cup of Shame” what remained of the promises made by the World Cup organizers and FIFA a year after the tournament.
This also applies to the compensation demanded for exploitative work on the World Cup construction sites. “FIFA and Qatar must finally agree on concrete roadmaps for adequate compensation for all those affected by legal violations“, demanded Amnesty expert Müller-Fahlbusch: “Compensation must not be further denied or delayed.”
The International Labor Organization (ILO), a UN body, has also published a report on the situation of guest workers in recent days. The ILO recognizes “ongoing commitment” the Qatari government, at the same time there is “undoubtedly significant challenges”, which still exist, it is said, among other things. Since 2018, the ILO has been running a joint project with the Qatari government to support the reform process in the World Cup host country. Qatar is financing this project with a total of $25 million.
DFB in duty – Neuendorf in the FIFA Council
The human rights organizations also see the German Football Association (DFB) as having a duty. DFB President Bernd Neuendorf had always supported the call for a compensation fund worth around 400 million euros for injured or killed workers. Neuendorf was also in favor of setting up a drop-in center for migrant workers. He saw the Qatari government and FIFA as having a duty.
Last April, Neuendorf himself took office on the FIFA Council – whether and how he will fight for improvements as a FIFA official is unknown. The DFB President had previously called for more and more transparency in FIFA’s decisions, but so far there has been little evidence of this.
2034 World Cup probably in Saudi Arabia: “DFB is betraying its own values”
This also applies to the already controversial awarding of the 2034 World Cup. The decision that the 2024 tournament will take place in Saudi Arabia is not official, but is considered certain – despite all the criticism of the human rights situation there.
In this context, Wenzel Michalski, Germany director of Human Rights Watch, also criticized the DFB president and FIFA official Neuendorf, who is part of the system: “The DFB betrays its own values, the values of sport. When you ask, all they say is: We don’t have that much influence, and it doesn’t bother many others – what should we do? This is a convenient way of making excuses“, said Michalski. The association must “start rolling up your sleeves and putting pressure on FIFA“exercise:”I don’t see them doing that.”
The German Football Association (DFB) had announced that they wanted to wait for the official application before evaluating the award, but this does not have to be submitted to FIFA until July. FIFA, in accordance with its rotation principle, was up early for the 2034 World Cup selected an applicant from Asia and Oceania, thereby handing the World Cup on a silver platter to the regime in Saudi Arabia as the only applicant.
Human Rights Watch: World Cup 2034 “the next human rights disaster”
“FIFA is heading into the next human rights disaster“, said HRW director Michalski with a view to the almost certain awarding of the 2034 World Cup to Qatar’s large neighbor Saudi Arabia: “This is a mockery. Anyone who believed that FIFA was serious about this and was a serious organization must now feel like they have been taken for a ride. Saudi Arabia is worse than Qatar in many ways. The values that FIFA and subordinate associations give themselves are not worth the paper on which they were written.”
Amnesty International also does not want to accept the likely awarding of the World Cup to Saudi Arabia, which has been practicing sportswashing on a large scale for some time. “FIFA must learn from its mistakes and take its responsibility for human rights seriously“, said Middle East expert Müller-Fahlbusch: “This includes placing human rights at the center of the decision-making process when awarding future tournaments.” Amnesty also appealed to the DFB, “more pressure on FIFA” to exercise.