January 19 – A senior Qatari government minister has hit back at protests over the mistreatment of migrant workers in his country, saying global pressure on the Gulf state to improve conditions is simply “a dirty game” to discredit the 2022 World Cup hosts.
Human rights groups, trade unions and even FIFA have expressed considerable concern over the need to improve safety standards for migrant labourers, many of whom are working on World Cup sites.
According to official statistics, around 1,000 workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh lost their lives in 2012 and 2013 and it is feared many more could die as construction on World Cup facilities are accelerated.
Migrant workers make up three-quarters of Qatar’s 1.9 million population, many employed under the antiquated kafala system under which they cannot change job or leave the country without express permission from their employer sponsor.
The government and Qatar’s World Cup organisers have made several public pledges in recent months to improve conditions and have already approved a number of measures.
Yet in an interview with Sky News, Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, a former advisor to the Emir of Qatar and now president of the Administrative Control & Transparency Authority, said critics had “a heightened agenda”.
“I think this is a big trick,” he said. “People start talking about human rights, they just have a heightened agenda and they just try and use it against Qatar. This is what I call the dirty game.
“What of the human rights in Israel? What of the human rights in Europe? What about human rights in America? Why are you just talking about a small country trying to create a scapegoat and try to blame it just as human rights?
“I believe we have a lot of nationalities who work in Qatar who save their family and their own home. We create millions of jobs for people who come. And they can buy their choice. No one forced them.”
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