Friday, May 30, 2014

Qatar's deadly World Cup...

Is FIFA being shamed sufficiently to seriously consider moving the 2022 World Cup out of Qatar?

Don’t bet on it, though the recent admission by FIFA boss Sepp Blatter that awarding the World Cup to Qatar was “a mistake” has renewed focus on the small Gulf state’s attempt to host the world’s premier sporting event.

FIFA was quick to “clarify” Blatter’s remarks, saying the president’s comment only pertained to weather. With Qatar’s inhospitable summer temperatures, the governing body likely will have no choice but to move the event to the winter, igniting a backlash from players and fans as well as sponsors and broadcast partners.

But the weather is the least of the problems with Qatar.

Hundreds of migrant workers from South Asia have already died while building infrastructure projects associated with the World Cup. And the event is still at least eight years away; at this rate, some 4,000 are expected to be dead by the time the event is held. While Qatar’s leaders have pledged to improve working conditions, there’s little doubt that thousands more will die should the Cup be held in Qatar as scheduled.

The inhumane abuse of the workers is largely a result of the country’s kafala system, where the employers are allowed to confiscate a migrant worker’s passport as soon as he arrives in the country. Essentially these workers – primarily from India, Pakistan and Nepal – are reduced to nothing more than modern-day slaves, since employers may choose to withhold their wages as well. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Why is India ignoring the 'body bags' from Qatar?
  2. More than 900 workers have already died building Qatar’s World Cup...
  3. More than 450 Indian workers died in Qatar in just one year...
  4. Qatar World Cup: 400 Nepalese die on nation's building sites since bid won...
  5. Qatar migrant workers 'treated like animals'
  6. The Nepalis dying on Qatar's World Cup building sites...
  7. The death mill: Qatar and the World Cup...

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