GIANNI INFANTINO: How World Cup will help Qatar

Since winning the hosting rights for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar has gone through the strictest scrutiny from international human rights watchdogs and what some officials have termed as cynical media, particularly, the western media.

The country has been the butt for criticism for numerous reasons ranging from inhuman treatment of immigrant workers to discrimination against women.

Despite the cynicism and distractions, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy has remained focused, delivering on almost every front; from labour reforms to infrastructure.

With just days to the tournament, FIFA President, Gianni Infantino has said that the Qatar World Cup will silence a lot of critics and help the country battle prejudice. FIFA’s president was defending host Qatar from criticism of its rights record.

Speaking via video link at an investor conference in neighboring Saudi Arabia, which is reportedly in talks with Greece and Egypt about a separate proposal to host the World Cup in 2030, Infantino said,

the four-week tournament in Qatar, which begins Nov. 20, offers “an opportunity for Qatar and the whole region to present itself to the world in another light, another way, and get rid, I think once and for all, of some of the prejudice that sadly still exist,” Infantino said.

His comments came two days after Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, hit out at “double standards” unleashed in an “unprecedented campaign” of criticism related to issues including the treatment of foreign workers and the LGBTQ and women’s rights.

FIFA awarded the World Cup to an Arab country for the first time in 2010. It has since spent tens of billions of dollars on preparations but has faced intense scrutiny over human rights.

The Gulf state has received heavy criticism over its treatment of the foreign workers all the reforms notwithstanding. Supporters of Qatar maintain that some are still agonising over the award of the World Cup eights to the Gulf country.

Foreigners make up some percentage of the 2.9 million population.

Rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have insisted that Qatar and FIFA should do more to compensate workers who faced unfortunate circumstances on Qatar’s mega projects.

They have demanded that FIFA set up a $440 million compensation fund – equalling the World Cup prize money.

But reforms to the labor system and working practices have been praised by union leaders who previously fought the government.

Infantino highlighted those reforms in his comments on Thursday.

“Some real changes have already happened. For example, when we speak about workers’ rights, which is and has been an important topic, for the first time in the region minimum wages have been established for all workers,” he said.

He also pointed to “key improvements in terms of workers’ welfare,” adding: “These changes have happened in a few years only in Qatar.”