Despite opposition from the House of Representatives, the cabinet still wants to send a minister to the controversial World Cup in Qatar. The government will announce this in a letter to the House next week, several sources from The Hague confirm on Saturday NRC after reporting from NOS. It is not yet known which minister will be sent.
Despite criticism for the poor human rights situation in Qatar, the government finds it unwise to offend the Gulf state by not sending a dignitary. Main reasons: the oil-producing country is too important a partner in the current energy crisis, Qatar assisted in the evacuation of Dutch people after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in 2021, and neighboring countries also send representatives, which would send the absence of the Netherlands too strong a signal.
Chamber Against High Envoy
With the plan to send a minister, the cabinet is going against a parliamentary motion from the beginning of last year. A parliamentary majority then prescribed that the Netherlands may not send a minister, king or prime minister to the tournament. D66 and ChristenUnie also voted in favor of the boycott.
The fact that the government now wants to ignore this motion has led to criticism from these two coalition parties. So calls ChristenUnie party chairman Gert-Jan Segers Friday evening it was a “disappointment” that the government wants to celebrate a party “in a country where the rights of minorities and the lives of migrant workers are worth little”.
According to research by The Guardian At least 6,750 guest workers have died since Qatar was awarded the World Cup. This probably mainly happened in the construction of stadiums and the construction of infrastructural projects such as roads and an airport. Human rights organizations speak of “modern slavery” because migrant workers had to work long hours in extreme heat.
Also read: Will a World Cup boycott help workers in Qatar?