Labor exploitation "remains dire in Qatar," five years after the Gulf state won the right to host football’s 2022 World Cup, with "poor working conditions widespread and still no investigations into the deaths of migrant workers," Amnesty Int'l has found, according to Ian Herbert of the London INDEPENDENT. FIFA insisted when awarding the country the "lucrative event" that it would "bring public exposure" of a culture of chronic labor exploitation. Yet there is still "no sign of the promised reforms to the deeply exploitative" kafala labor system, which will not be introduced until the end of next year at the earliest. Amnesty said that FIFA had "done little to press the hosts of the 2022 event to improve working conditions in the five years since it awarded the World Cup." Media outlets in India reported on Tuesday that the country’s embassy "had registered the death of 260 Indians in the Gulf state this year." Amnesty has found that an initial commitment to expand the labor inspector force to 400 by the end of '15 "has been suspended by a year," to the end of '16. Limited reforms to the kafala system will "still require workers to seek their employer’s consent to switch jobs or leave Qatar" (INDEPENDENT, 12/1). In Doha, Lesley Walker reported Qatar's government said in response to Amnesty's report that the country is "committed to protecting the workers" who are building its many infrastructure projects and is "making progress in terms of labor rights." Qatar's Government Communications Office issued a statement on Tuesday arguing that the report "does not accurately reflect the progress we have made in reforming our labor system." It also claimed that Amnesty's report "did not compare Qatar’s developments to other countries that have a similar majority-expat population." Asserting its "appreciation" of its migrant workforce, the government office maintained it had made a number of "significant (human rights) reforms" and that the state is "committed to respecting both their labor rights and their human rights" (DOHA NEWS, 12/2).
'ONLY ONE CHOICE': USA TODAY's Nancy Armour opined for five years, Qatar has "ignored the polite requests from FIFA and its sponsors to clean up its abysmal record on human rights, particularly those applying to migrant workers." If Qatar has "shown this little enthusiasm for reform now, in the years when FIFA still has the 2022 World Cup as a bargaining chip," what makes anyone think the emirate will do so when it "no longer has to fear losing soccer’s biggest prize?" Because, "news flash, it won’t." Which leaves FIFA "with only one choice." World football's governing body must take back the World Cup (USA TODAY, 11/30).
