According to paperwork found in the Nepalese embassy in Doha, at least 44 workers died between 4 June and 8 August. More than half collapsed dead from heart attacks, heart failure or “workplace accidents.”
The investigation has found:
• Evidence of forced labour on a huge World Cup infrastructure project.
• Most workers have not been paid for months and therefore cannot flee at the risk of starving.
• Some workers are being blackmailed by there employers through confiscation of passports and refusal to issue ID cards, leaving them as illegal aliens with no rights in Qatar.
• Some Nepalese workers claim that they did not have the right to drink water in over 100 degree heat.
• 30 Nepalese workers have escaped the brutal conditions of there immigrant camps, and found refuge in the Nepalese embassy.
Watch this clip: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/video/2013/sep/25/qatar-migrant-workers-world-cup-host-video
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Pingback: Soccer Politics / The Politics of Football » You Can’t Facilitate Change Unless You Oppose Oppression
Just more of a reason to give the United States the ’22 World Cup….
All of this raises very interesting ethical issues about being a fan itself, something explored in this interesting blog post:
http://futbolintellect.com/2013/10/fandom-and-ethics/
Recent statements that have been made by FIFA and Qatar officials are infuriating and completely ignorant to the dire urgency of the whole matter.
In this CNN article, Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary general of the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, acknowledges that “it takes time to develop and enforce labor rights laws” and even “insisted that labor abuses are not tolerated by Qataris and that things are changing.”
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/03/world/meast/qatar-workers-rights/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2
In this The Guardian article, Sepp Blatter stated that FIFA has “no direct influence over the situation and that there [is] plenty of time to resolve the issue.”
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/oct/04/world-cup-2022-fifa-sepp-blatter-qatar-worker-deaths
Sepp Blatter’s comments, especially, are concerning because he’s trying to remove FIFA from being accountable for the problems in Qatar when FIFA should be the most responsible for them because FIFA sponsors the World Cup…
Also, for Blatter to say that there are still nine years until the World Cup is totally ignoring the fact that people in working conditions unimaginable to any of us are dying and being shipped back to their respective countries on a daily occurrence, and that something needs to be done as soon as possible to improve conditions.
If there is any one organization that could force changes, it is FIFA.
There is no way to pretend that the international organization for the world’s most popular sport has no say in affairs relating to its largest competition. The fact that Blatter admits later on in the article that it’s the “growing international pressure” that has forced FIFA “to acknowledge the problem” is really sad, and goes against FIFA’s mission statement that states, in terms of world soccer, “we have a great responsibility.”
http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/mission.html
Everything about this situation – the actual accusations and even more so the responses made by officials – is appalling and makes me extremely upset. Blatter is right that there are still nine years until the 2022 World Cup. If this continues, then it will be a long and disastrous nine years in which FIFA will lose all respect from the international community. Including the other controversies involved with Qatar’s World Cup, I honestly think that the best solution is to strip Qatar of the World Cup. It was a terrible decision to begin with, and it will be a terrible decision to continue with.
FIFA takes great pride in its anti-racism campaigns. In my opinion, that pride is not deserved. Soccer is still ridden with racist chants and violence motivated by prejudice. To be fair to FIFA, aside from instituting draconian punishments against those found guilty of racism, controlling unruly fans at games is a tall order. On the other hand, FIFA is directly responsible for choosing Qatar as the site of the 2022 World Cup. The organization obviously had the power to choose a site that, among other things, would provide reasonable working conditions for those responsible for constructing the stadia and various necessities for a World Cup. It is absurd, although unfortunately explainable–money, corruption, etc.–that FIFA in a way condones this behavior despite claiming that,
“Discrimination of any kind against a country, private person or group of people on account of race, skin colour, ethnic, national or social origin, gender, language, religion, political opinion or any other opinion, wealth, birth or any other status, sexual orientation or any other reason is strictly prohibited and punishable by suspension or expulsion.”
(http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/socialresponsibility/antiracism/index.html)
I hope FIFA maintains some decency and decides to strip Qatar of the World Cup due to the human rights atrocities you mentioned, but ultimately, money often preaches louder than words, and Qatar has virtually unlimited funds. Time will tell whether FIFA decides to remain true to their words, or to continue padding their bank accounts with oil money.