By Andrew Warshaw
September 16 – The United Nations’ top sports expert believes the controversial treatment of migrant workers in Qatar may never have been highlighted globally had the 2022 World Cup not been handed to the Gulf state but still questions whether the tournament should be staged there.
Much has been made, ever since they won the bid, of Qatar’s credentials for hosting the first ever World Cup in the Middle east, an issue that gained even more momentum when FIFA decided to host the tournament in winter but which has quietened down in recent months.
Willi Lemke, sports adviser to the United Nations secretary-general, says the fact that Qatar is now in the international sporting spotlight means it has no choice but to improve its human rights record.
Addressing a sports ethics forum in Zurich, Lemke questioned whether Qatar should have been awarded the World Cup in the first place, saying he was surprised at learning that at least eight members of the FIFA executive committee at the time did not even read the evaluation report before making their choice.
“They decided to give the World Cup in summer to a country where temperatures are around 50 degrees. It’s absolutely impossible to host a World Cup then but that’s what they decided. How did this happen?” This is of course now an old debate and Qatar in their defence to this claim would point out the cooling technologies they have developed that would have made playing matches possible.
Lemke welcomed the fact that in future World Cup hosts will be decided by FIFA’s full 211-member Congress. “There has to be greater transparency in future and I am pleased that there will be an open process (decided by) all countries.”
Pointedly, he added: “We have seen the many problems concerning migrant workers. I’m very close to this issue. We would never ever have talked (so much) about migrant workers there if there had not been the decision to give this World Cup to Qatar. This is very positive.
“It is wonderful to see so many organisations pushing this and also the media are with us to bring about change for the very bad conditions for migrant workers in Qatar through this decision of the FIFA executive committee.”
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