By Andrew Warshaw
March 6 – The human rights issue in Qatar is back in the spotlight following the latest summit hosted by FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Theo Zwanziger, the executive committee member mandated with maintaining the pressure on the 2022 World Cup hosts to reform their employment system and comply with international labour standards.
Blatter and Zwanziger held talks this week with the international players union FIFPro, one of the many organisations at the forefront of criticism of Qatar’s notorious kafala employment system.
Also present was Zahir Belounis, the highly publicised footballing victim of kafala who was trapped in the Gulf state by a wages dispute and only got out of the country following the intervention of a string of human rights bodies as well as the French government.
Blatter emphasised the importance of consulting all stakeholders, as well as learning from the experiences of Belounis, to gain a further understanding of the issues at stake and try to make progress on developing feasible solutions.
Zwanziger then explained the outcomes of the various meetings that have taken place, all of which are being collated into a report to be presented to the upcoming FIFA Executive Committee meeting on 20-21 March, outlining “possible initiatives” that FIFA could take.
While these would not include stripping Qatar of host status, 2022 organisers will be anxious to discover exactly what proposals the executive committee makes and whether it feels sufficient progress has been made towards easing the plight of migrant workers.
“As the organiser of the FIFA World Cup, FIFA acknowledges its responsibility to look into human rights issues in the host countries of its flagship event,” Zwanziger said in a statement after this week’s meeting. “We will continue to look into this matter and work with all stakeholders so that feasible and sustainable solutions are found”
FIFPro General Secretary Theo van Seggelen added: “As FIFPro, we are open to continuing the dialogue, as the cooperation with FIFA will hopefully contribute to preventing similar situations from occurring in the future.”
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734796704labto1734796704ofdlr1734796704owedi1734796704sni@w1734796704ahsra1734796704w.wer1734796704dna1734796704