Qatar rejects amnesty criticism on anniversary of winning world cup bid Qatar is “committed to protecting the workers” who are building its many infrastructure projects and is making progress in terms of labor rights, the government said in response to a new Amnesty International report that accused the state of “rampant” abuse of low-income employees. Today marks the fifth anniversary since Qatar was named as host city for the 2022 World Cup.

1. QATAR WORLD CUP NEWS
http://dohanews.co/qatar-rejects-amnesty-criticism-on-anniversary-of-winning-world-
cup-bid/
Qatar rejects Amnesty criticism
on anniversary of winning World
Cup bid
DOHA NEWS REPORT BY LESLEY WALKER

2. PAGE 1
SCDL
Photo for illustrative purposes only.
With reporting from Heba Fahmy
Qatar is “committed to protecting the workers” who are building its
many infrastructure projects and is making progress in terms of
labor rights, the government said in response to a new Amnesty
International report that accused the state of “rampant” abuse of
low-income employees.
Today marks the fifth anniversary since Qatar was named as host
city for the 2022 World Cup.
http://dohanews.co/qatar-rejects-amnesty-criticism-on-
anniversary-of-winning-world-cup-bid/

3. PAGE 2
Sean Knoflick / Flickr
Photo for illustrative purposes only.
On the eve of that milestone, Amnesty issued an annual scorecard
asserting that authorities in Qatar “have done almost nothing
effective to end chronic labor exploitation” here. It also
accused FIFA of being complicit in failing to make material
improvements to workers’ rights.
In response, Qatar’s Government Communications Office issued a
statement last night arguing that the report “does not accurately
reflect the progress we have made in reforming our labor system.”
It also claimed that Amnesty’s report did not compare Qatar’s
developments to other countries that have a similar majority-expat
population:
“The Government feels that Amnesty’s reporting lacks context, as it does not
benchmark labor conditions in Qatar against labor conditions in other countries
facing similar challenges.
Qatar fully intends to meet the highest standards with regard to labor but for
reasons that are unclear, Amnesty International has provided no comparative

4. PAGE 3
data on labor conditions in other countries employing large numbers of guest
workers to meet the demands of rapid growth and development,” the statement
said.
Worker reforms
Asserting its “appreciation” of its migrant workforce, the
government office maintained it had made a number of “significant
(human rights) reforms” and that the state is “committed to
respecting both their labor rights and their human rights.”
Jidhu Jose
Residents line up at a bank to open accounts ahead of the WPS.
Among the examples of reforms cited by the government are the
introduction of the Wage Protection System, which requires
companies to pay employees’ wages directly into bank accounts.
The government also said there are “new laws” banning employers
from withholding their employees’ passports and from working
during midday hours in summer months.
However, these rules have been in place for a number of years,
though workers do regularly complain about the passport issue and
have said the authorities do not do enough to enforce the law.

5. PAGE 4
Kafala
Amnesty also criticized Qatar for taking more than a year to
introduce minor reforms to its controversial kafala sponsorship
system that aren’t expected to take effect until next year.
Qatar Airways/Flickr
Photo for illustrative purposes only.
“The reforms proposed by the government fail to tackle the central
issues that leave so many workers at the mercy of employers, yet
even these changes have been delayed,” Amnesty researcher
Mustafa Qadri said.
However, the Qatar government office maintained that, despite
criticism that the new law doesn’t go far enough in tackling some of
the issues around workers’ rights, “these new regulations mark the
beginning of the end of the so-called ‘kafala’ laws in Qatar.”
The statement continued:
“Far from ‘tinkering on the edges’ of reform, Qatar has made, and will continue to
make changes in our laws that will help ensure that the rights of both workers
and their employers are respected.”
In a separate public announcement yesterday, the head of the local
organizing body for Qatar’s World Cup maintained that Qatar was

6. PAGE 5
making good progress in its preparations to host the global event in
seven years’ time.
SCDL
Al Rayyan Stadium design
Hassan Al Thawadi, secretary-general of theSupreme Committee
for Delivery & Legacy,reportedly said: “Our vision, our legacy
continues to develop. The World Cup will go down in history as
being an outstanding one.”
Work is underway on six of what will be at least eight stadiums
required for the event, with the remodeled Khalifa international
stadium in Aspire Zone set to be the first facility to be completed
next year.
The main contractor for Al Wakrah stadium, which was designed
by British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, is set to be announced next
week, Al Thawadi added.
FIFA response
The official also commented on the ongoing turmoil faced
by football’s international governing body FIFA, saying “we need a
stable FIFA for the benefit of the game. The new president,
whoever it may be, should lead football and work for the progress
of the game.”

7. PAGE 6
MCaviglia/Wikimedia
FIFA headquarters
FIFA did not escape censure by Amnesty. In a statement, Qadri
said yesterday: “FIFA has played its part in this sorry performance.
It knew there were labor rights issues in Qatar.”
He added:
“FIFA has bent over backwards to make a Qatar World Cup work,
even taking the unprecedented step of moving the tournament
from summer to winter. But apart from occasional public
statements the organization has not set any clear, concrete agenda
for how it will push Qatar to ensure migrant workers’ rights are
respected.”
In its own response to the report, FIFA said it has been working
with Qatar authorities, Amnesty and the International Trade Union
Confederation (ITUC) to achieve “consistent and sustained
implementation of fair working conditions on FIFA World Cup
construction sites as quickly as possible.”
While its focus remains on specific World Cup sites – the stadiums
– FIFA added that it continues to “urge” Qatar authorities to
ensure basic workers’ standards were also implemented country-
wide.

8. PAGE 7
It said it would put in place a “human rights due diligence
procedure” for the World Cup, but stopped short of giving any
detail on what this would include or how it would be enforced.
#WhenWeWon
Meanwhile, a new Twitter hashtag #‫ما‬ ‫ا_ل‬ ‫زن‬ ‫ف‬ (when we won) has
been making the rounds this week. On it, many people have been
expressing pride and joy that the country is hosting the World Cup,
while others are reminiscing about how the felt and where they
were when the news was announced five years ago.