Increased Pressures on Qatar Ahead of the World Cup
The football world is counting down to the start of the 2022 World Cup, and major European leagues, along with other leagues and football competitions worldwide, have made significant changes to their schedules due to the tournament’s proximity to January, ensuring everything aligns with the World Cup. However, pressure from human rights groups and a considerable number of governmental and non-governmental organizations worldwide on Qatar is intensifying, urging them to address the dire conditions of workers who have been employed for many years in building numerous facilities and lavish stadiums in the country. Reports about workers who lost their lives during the World Cup construction over the past decade have been published for a long time. Nevertheless, Qatar’s substantial media spending power has helped the country resist facing the consequences of the dire situation of these workers and being accountable for the deaths of a significant number of them. Human Rights Watch has now officially requested compensation from the Qatari government for the families of foreign workers who have lost their lives, increasing the pressure on that government. One basis for these new pressures is the staggering costs and astonishing spending by the Qataris. Some estimates, albeit somewhat exaggerated, put the budget spent on Qatar’s World Cup facilities at up to three hundred billion dollars, while the Brazil World Cup cost nearly twelve billion dollars and the Russia World Cup cost fourteen billion dollars.