Amnesty Appeals to FIFA Over Qatar 2022 Workers Standards

WFI – Amnesty International says FIFA "must clarify its stance" on migrant workers rights at its Executive Committee meeting this week.

The human rights watchdog said in a statement that FIFA has been sending "mixed messages" about how the organization will address the issue.

FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke had promised to discuss the situation at this week's meeting. However, last week he said "FIFA is not a United Nations. FIFA is about sport."

Dr Theo Zwanziger, former head of the German Football Association, will present a report on the situation of working conditions for migrant workers in Qatar working at World Cup construction sites.

"When FIFA awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, it assumed a responsibility for the human rights impact of that decision. It is involved in this issue, whether it likes it or not," James Lynch, an Amnesty International researcher on migrant workers in the Gulf, said in the statement.

Amnesty listed three topics it hopes FIFA's ExCo will address: the abuse of migrant workers, welfare standards, and how Qatar’s labor laws impact the situation.

"FIFA should have a clear and consistent public message that human rights must be respected in the preparation and staging of World Cups and should be advocating to the Qatari government to urgently address the risk of labor rights abuses in the context of the 2022 World Cup," Lynch added.

"It is time for FIFA to clarify where it stands."

Written by Aaron Bauer

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