Statement of the day | It is wise that the cabinet travels to Qatar for the football World Cup

The House of Representatives asked ministers Wopke Hoekstra and Conny Helder not to go, but the cabinet is doing it anyway. To maintain good ties with host country Qatar, a delegation from the Dutch government will travel to the World Cup. Do you think that’s wise?

“Staying away from the World Cup will limit the possibility of dialogue and cooperation and it will then be more difficult to pick it up again,” the ministers told the House of Representatives. Moreover, according to the ministers, other countries are also going to the World Cup.

Members of the House of Representatives reacted furiously to the decision. “What a painful display”, says Jasper van Dijk of the SP. A motion from his party, asking the House not to send a delegation to the event, was passed.

“Human rights policy and Dutch foreign policy clash again in this coalition. (…) Fear of LNG shortage once again feeds double standards; credibility is compromised,” tweets Tom van der Lee (GroenLinks).

Exploitation

Qatar was awarded the 2010 World Cup. Since then, there have been reports of exploitation of migrant workers. The British newspaper The Guardian reported earlier that at least 6,500 migrant workers died during the construction of the stadiums.

In that light, is it wise to travel with a government delegation?

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