FIFA came under pressure from sponsors adidas, Coca-Cola and Visa on Wednesday "to push Qatar to deliver reforms for migrant workers as the country rapidly expands to host the 2022 World Cup," according to Rob Harris of the AP. The calls from high-profile commercial backers of football's flagship tournament "came as Amnesty International's latest report found that Qatar is failing to make substantive changes to improve living and working conditions for low-paid laborers building its highways, hotels, stadiums and skyscrapers." FIFA maintained that the World Cup is proving to be a "catalyst for significant change" to labor laws in the tiny Gulf nation, which relies on more than a million guest workers, many of them drawn from South Asian nations including India and Nepal. A statement from Visa "is the strongest public expression of unease yet from a FIFA sponsor." Visa said in a statement, "We continue to be troubled by the reports coming out of Qatar related to the World Cup and migrant worker conditions. We have expressed our grave concern to FIFA, and urge them to take all necessary actions to work with the appropriate authorities and organizations to remedy this situation and ensure the health and safety of all involved." Adidas, the World Cup ball provider since '70, said that it remains in "constant dialogue" with FIFA and pointed to pressure already being applied on Qatar by football's governing body (AP, 5/20). Amnesty Int'l said that Qatar "was failing to deliver on promised labour reforms." It said, "Without prompt action, the pledges Qatar made last year are at serious risk of being dismissed as a mere public relations stunt to ensure the Gulf state can cling on" to the event. In the latest in a string of reports on migrant worker "abuse," Amnesty said Doha has failed to deliver reforms in key areas such as pay, the "kafala" system that blocks workers from leaving the country and curbs on changing employers (AP, 5/21). The AFP's David Harding wrote Doha, which has found itself at the center of an int'l storm over its labor practices, said that "its commitment to reform was genuine." A statement released Thursday by Qatar's Ministry of Labour & Social Affairs said, "Significant changes have been made over the last year to improve the rights and conditions of expatriate workers. No one should be in any doubt that we are committed to effective and sustainable change" (AFP, 5/21).
