FIFA President Sepp Blatter said that the governing body "is not responsible for the working conditions of labourers helping to build stadiums for the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar," according to Ranga Sirilal of REUTERS. Blatter: "In Qatar they are working in big companies from Germany, from France, from England and from other European countries and they are responsible of their workers and not FIFA." Qatar "has come under increasing scrutiny over its labour practices since FIFA awarded it the right to host the World Cup." Amnesty Int'l said in November that Qatar "has been slow to address concerns about the abuse of migrant workers, six months after it laid out plans for labour reforms" (REUTERS, 12/2). The London TELEGRAPH reported the Qatar Labour Ministry earlier said in a statement that "it was committed to improving conditions for workers and had already made changes such as increasing fines for employers who illegally hold employee passports, employing more labour inspectors and shutting down firms operating unsafe sites." Blatter "declined to comment on whether the governing body would release the full report of FIFA's own investigation" by former U.S. prosecutor Michael Garcia into alleged corruption in the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Blatter: "The ethics committee is totally independent. ... You will agree that I will make no comments on the report because I have no right to do so" (TELEGRAPH, 12/3).
