“We are very pleased with Amnesty International’s continued involvement and are always open to transparently and constructively discussing and addressing any concerns raised by our stakeholders,” said Joyce Cook, FIFA’s Social Responsibility Officer.
Many people have reportedly been killed in the construction of World Cup stadiums. The British newspaper The Guardian Last year even mentioned no fewer than 6,500 deaths in the period between 2010 and 2020. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has always denied that and said at the beginning of this year that it was about three deaths. Qatar received a lot of criticism after the reports of the deaths and several parties even called for a boycott.
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Human rights organization Amnesty has been advocating improving working conditions for guest workers in Qatar for years. According to the KNVB, among others, improvements have already been made in the past period. For example, a minimum wage has been introduced and it is not allowed to work in the sun during the hottest hours of the day.
During the meeting, Amnesty will hand over a petition calling on FIFA once again to tackle the issue. FIFA wants to look with the organization at the progress that has been made and, among other things, discuss the situation of employees in the service sector.
Cook said: “We remain fully committed to protecting workers involved in the organization of the World Cup and we are confident that the tournament will also serve as a catalyst for wider positive and lasting change across the host country.”