Qatar: The Ideal Host for Censors
Qatar: The Ideal Host for Censors. The disgraceful situation and unpleasant news about the Qatar World Cup are increasing, but it’s too late to turn back now.
The 22nd World Cup is being held in Doha, Qatar. The opening ceremony welcomed athletes ready to compete for the championship title in one of the world’s most famous sports arenas with a display of lights and colors. However, all this glitz and glamour were not enough to soften the controversies surrounding the choice to hold the event in a country where human rights are continuously violated.
Among these issues is the lack of transparency regarding the conditions of workers, who are mostly migrants, in the stadium construction sites. It is also noteworthy that homosexuality is considered a crime in this country, and gender equality is not even a topic of discussion.
This is the first time these games are being held in one of the region’s countries, and the anomaly of this World Cup in Qatar starts with the timing. Unlike usual, these games are being held in the fall, due to the host country’s weather conditions.
The World Championship is underway, creating numerous problems for everyone from insiders to fans. Discomforts that Sepp Blatter, the former number one man at FIFA, admitted to by acknowledging that the world football governing body made a serious mistake at the time.
However, what is being discussed these days is more than just a mistake. In fact, we are facing real corruption, with multiple investigations underway to clarify all aspects of the matter. These investigations focus on the criteria and standards based on which the World Cup was awarded to a country like Qatar.
A Kick to Human Rights
With less than three million people, Qatar is the smallest country to ever host the World Cup. A logistically complex event that attracts a large number of visitors and requires extensive and diverse infrastructure to accommodate them.
To prepare for the whistle to start the games, the Qatari government needed to build stadiums, hotels, and highways, and began the project by employing a massive workforce of migrant workers, who make up about 90% of the country’s labor force.
In 2021, according to The Guardian’s assessment, since the World Cup was awarded in 2010, more than 6,500 migrant workers from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan have died as a result of inhumane conditions and hard, exhausting work on construction sites.
These numbers align with those in UN reports regarding injuries and environmental impacts caused by the football event. A situation that, along with allegations of corruption, environmental damage, and gender discrimination, cannot help but be controversial. As soon as the games started, we witnessed initiatives to express opposition to the conditions of the event.
The Danish national team wears jerseys with faded logos because the manufacturer Hummel does not want to be seen in tournaments that have cost human lives. Meanwhile, eight teams were not allowed by FIFA to wear rainbow armbands on the field to support LGBTQ rights, as it was considered a political gesture.
The Most Expensive World Cup Yet
The Qatar World Cup, with a record $220 billion in costs, is the most expensive in history. This amount is actually higher than the total cost of all World Championships up to 2018 and 15 times more than the 2014 Brazil World Cup. To compensate for such enormous expenses, ticket prices have significantly increased compared to the last World Championship in Russia.
For the small Gulf country and as a continuation of a strategy that Doha has pursued for years, the World Cup could be an opportunity to steer the country’s economy towards tourism and, in general, to gain visibility and credibility on the international stage. However, due to numerous controversies stemming from Qatar’s approach to various issues, including the dress code for men and women, the ban on alcohol consumption, and the treatment of Iranian spectators opposing the Iranian government, the country’s international image has been significantly tarnished.
In recent years, Doha has hosted important negotiations with complex parties like Iran and the Afghan Taliban. It should also be noted that Qatar’s abundant natural gas resources have made it a more valuable partner for Europe in the energy crisis.
Soft Power or Sportswashing
Accusations of sportswashing, using sports to improve a country’s image, have been met with skepticism and are considered the toxic fruit of a post-colonial and racist Western mindset.
Al Jazeera’s Al-Arabi Siddiqi points out that it’s unclear why there’s so much fuss about Qatar when human rights are not respected in other countries that have previously hosted the World Cup. A viewpoint that was pleasing to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who said at the opening press conference in Doha, ‘Today I feel Qatari, I feel Arab, I feel African, I feel gay, I feel disabled, I feel like a migrant worker.’
Infantino said he struggles to understand much of the criticism raised in recent weeks by Western countries, which he called unilateral moral lessons and sheer hypocrisy. The nearly hour-long speech by the FIFA President, which a Sportsmail reporter described as reminiscent of Donald Trump’s speeches, left him wondering why no one sees Qatar’s progress in recent years and emphasized that he is not defending Qatar but football. According to him, the World Cup, which started on November 20, will be the best in history.
European Union’s Reaction to the World Cup
The European Parliament condemns the deaths of thousands of migrant workers during the preparation of the 2022 World Cup, especially during the construction of the stadiums where the matches are held.
The European Chamber asked FIFA and Qatar to compensate all victims related to the preliminary stages of preparing for the football championship to their families. In another point emphasized in Strasbourg, European Parliament members, through a resolution that was approved, describe corruption in FIFA as systematic and deeply rooted and express regret over the lack of transparency that characterized the selection of Qatar as the host country.
The European Union also calls on member states, especially Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, to pressure UEFA and FIFA to commit to issues like introducing democratic and transparent procedures for awarding hosting rights for the World Football Championships. According to the text of the resolution, Qatar succeeded in winning the World Cup bid within the framework of credible corruption allegations.
European Parliament representatives said that to protect athletes and fans and end the practice of so-called sportswashing, international sports events should not be awarded to countries that violate fundamental and human rights and where gender-based violence is systematic.
They ultimately condemned the abuses by Qatari authorities against the LGBTQ community, including the use of national laws that allow their detention for up to six months before any trial. The resolution calls on Qatar to take actions to ensure gender equality and to strive to strengthen and improve the status of women in the labor market.