FIFA World Cup 2022: Qatar Labour Minister rejects plea from human rights groups to compensate migrant workers
Ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022, Qatar Labour Minister Ali Bin Samikh Al Marri has rejected pleas to compensate migrant workers.
A #PayUpFIFA campaign was launched by human rights activist groups to ask the Qatari government to compensate migrant workers who were involved in building stadiums and other infrastructures ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022.
However, according to Global Voices, Al Marri has termed those campaigns 'publicity stunts' and accused them of 'racism'. He further stated that the country has already handed out millions of dollars in unpaid wages.
Fans don’t want to sit in stadiums that workers died to build.
Retweet to let @FIFAcom know we are waiting for their commitment to compensate migrant worker families before the #WorldCup kicks off.
#PayUpFIFA #1MonthCountdown⌛ https://t.co/zGXZ75EtwI
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has issued a statement on the same. It reads:
"Qatar’s Labour Minister Ali bin Samikh Al Marri rejected creating a remedy fund for harmed migrant workers today. His response ignores growing criticism of Qatar’s labor rights record and support for the migrant workers who faced abuses creating the World Cup infrastructure. Instead, Al Marri cited Qatar’s recent labor reforms and questioned the feasibility of the remedy fund."
It carried on:
"While Qatar has made notable reforms, research by Human Rights Watch has found that they came late, were narrow in scope, or were weakly enforced, which meant many workers who helped build the World Cup infrastructure fell through the cracks."
HRW claimed that FIFA and UEFA are interested in compensation of migrant workers ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022
The aforementioned HRW report further claimed that in an October 13 hearing in the Council of Europe, FIFA agreed to the compensation of the workers. FIFA's deputy secretary general Alsdair Bell said (via AP News):
“It’s important to try to see that anyone who suffered injury as a consequence of working in the World Cup, that that is somehow redressed.”
UEFA also requested FIFA to resolve issues related to paying off migrant workers. A statement from UEFA read:
"The Working Group thanks FIFA for the constructive and positive exchange, in which the following key topics were addressed as part of the ongoing dialogue around developments in Qatar ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022: the safety, security, and inclusion of fans, women, LGBTQI+ groups and individuals, journalists, and human rights defenders; the creation of a compensation fund for migrant workers; and the establishment of a migrant worker centre."
Six days and counting... https://t.co/niTnXCErCl
It added:
"The Working Group welcomed FIFA’s clear assurances regarding the topic of safety, security and inclusion for all individuals. It requested FIFA to respond and commit to the outstanding issues regarding migrant workers by the end of October."
Regardless of the off-field controversies, the World Cup is slated to kick off normally on November 20.