D R Kumar
These are tough times – the Coronavirus and its variants are wreaking havoc across the globe. Humanity is fortunate that we could develop some vaccines in pretty quick time, though none of them guarantees 100 per cent protection.
For the organisers of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 too, these are tough times. Ever since Qatar won the right to host the tournament, many viruses have hit them – the difference here is that the ‘UK variant’ came early, way back in December 2010 itself! There was a lull in the ‘virus attack’ in between, but there were so many other ‘variants’ at play, including ‘seasonal’ ones like ‘Bribery, Migrant Workers, Amnesty, Trade Union, Alcohol, LGBT and Human Rights.’
As soon as the European qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup started last week, there has been a sudden spike in many of these variants, spreading faster than the Covid-19 itself. The people of Qatar have been watching these protests with bemusement.
A longtime Doha resident put things in perspective. “I’ve been living in Qatar for the past 25 years. And I’ve realised one thing – that all the expatriates who’re working here are doing so by their own choice, on one’s own volition. Almost all of them find this place as a platform to enhance their career development as well as make economic progress, using opportunities that they cannot dream of in their native countries,” he said.
There is no bonded labour here, but most of the expats have developed a bonding to this country that has taken care of them – be it the heavily subsidised public health care facilities, state of the art but easily affordable transport systems, religious freedom and hardly any discrimination. Many expatriates from Western countries too have been living here for decades. A recent study shows that the number of migrants living in the Middle East more than doubled between 2005 and 2020.
All of them have come in search of economic opportunities and their increasing number proves that their goals are being achieved – otherwise they would have returned to their native countries. There are people from more than 120 countries working in Qatar, some with State-owned oil companies and other organisations, some others in the private sector and there are thousands working on short-term projects. Among all the countries in the Middle East, Qatar, arguably, offers the best salary and facilities to its migrant workers. And, indeed, the World Cup has acted as a catalyst to bring in several positive changes on the labour front.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its latest report said, “Qatar’s non-discriminatory minimum wage, which came into force with effect from March 20, 2021, applies to all workers, of all nationalities, in all sectors, including domestic workers. More than 400,000 workers will benefit directly from the new law.”
Qatar’s Workers’ Support and Insurance Fund has so far disbursed nearly $4m to 5,500 workers as reimbursement of recruitment fees which they have paid to agents, indicating that real exploitation is happening back home and not in Qatar.
The Amnesty International itself has admitted that Qatar has done a lot to improve the workers’ plight. In its recent letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, it said: “We welcome the significant changes that the Government of Qatar has made to its labour system in recent years, including to the kafala sponsorship system which legally binds migrant workers to their employer. …Qatar is the first country in the region to make such changes to workers’ rights, and we hope it will continue to lead the way for broader regional reform.” The World Cup and its related projects have opened up tens of thousands of job opportunities to skilled, semiskilled and unskilled workers from Asia and Africa. And don’t forget that many of the foreign partners in these joint ventures who have bagged the plum contracts are European companies!
Initially the ‘viruses’ attacked Qatar alleging bribery, but having failed to produce even a shred of evidence, they turned their attention to human rights and migrant workers’ plight. South Africa organised a very successful World Cup in 2010, Russia hosted a memorable edition in 2018. China is to host the first edition of FIFA Club World Cup in its new format in the next available window. Moscow hosted the Olympics way back in 1980, Beijing did so in 2008.
Is Qatar’s human rights record poorer than the above countries? Certainly not. Then why this sudden ‘awakening’ in Europe leading to protests by some of the teams featuring in the qualifiers? A recent report in one of the British newspapers said 6500 workers died in the past 10 years in Qatar. The Qatari authorities made it clear that out of this only 50-odd were related to World Cup projects. But the Western media is not satisfied, they want the World Cup organisers to own up all!
A discerning netizen gave a befitting reply to a Western journalist who blamed Qatar for its ‘silence’ by posting, “What do you expect them (Qatar) to say? 6500 deaths over 10 years out of a population of 1.4 million South Asian expats is a death rate of 0.00046% ... What do you want Qatar to do, promise immortality on arrival?”
A key finding from the Census of Fatal Occupation injuries in the United States, published on December 16, 2020, by the Bureau of Labour Statistics, US Department of Labour, says there were 5333 deaths in their country in 2019 alone. It shows that a worker died every 99 minutes from a work-related injury in the US in 2019! US is allotted the 2026 FIFA World Cup as a co-host along with Mexico and Canada! The Western media and other rights groups have no concern about workers’ safety in that country?
Most surprising is Germany joining the protest when there were strong allegations that their national federation used a slush fund to buy votes when they successfully won the bid to host the 2006 World Cup. The German officials escaped indictment only on technicalities, the case finally ending in February without a verdict after the five-year statute of limitations expired. It is obvious that there is a clear agenda behind the recent dirty campaign against Qatar. It’s certainly not about ethics, it’s all about ethnicity!
Even after 10 years, some of the Western football powers are sour that they lost the bid to an Asian, Arab nation! Yes, it was the fox that said the grapes were sour when he could not reach them!
The writer has been working as a freelance journalist in Qatar for almost three decades now.
