It has now been two years since the World Cup in Qatar. Gianni Infantino, FIFA President, claimed that the 2022 World Cup had changed positively for the workers. He says that the workers have much better conditions after the World Cup and that the World itself was the catalyst. This claim was checked, and it was found out that it is mostly false.
In a review of the 2022 World Cup on the FIFA website on December 18, 2023, Gianni Infantino commented on the Qatar World Cup. Among other things, he claimed: “The [FIFA] World Cup was definitely a catalyst for positive change in the country, in Qatar; not just as far as the infrastructure, but as well, as far as rights, for example, workers’ rights”. Furthermore, he refers to the International Labor Organization (ILO) for support, which is a specialized organization of the United Nations responsible for human and labor rights. He added: “And hundreds of thousands of workers today have much better conditions than before this [FIFA]World Cup happened, thanks to the changes that happened. And this is definitely one of the elements.“
Workers’ rights
To assess the validity of this statement, the conditions of workers before and after the World Cup are examined. The ILO, which Infantino cites as a source, has actually written an article on this matter, which stems from a decade-long cooperation with the state of Qatar itself.
The kafala system
The widely criticized kafala system was reformed in 2020, leading to several significant changes. The workforce in Qatar, explicitly the migrant workers, were dependent on their own employers and could not change jobs without the permission of their employers. Following the changes, workers can now change jobs at any time, with a notice period of up to two months. They no longer need the employer’s permission to leave the country. However, the article also mentions that there are still hurdles to changing jobs. For example, employers can cancel the employee’s residence permit in response to the dismissal. This means that they are still dependent on the employer.
Minimum wage in Qatar
Qatar is also the first country in the Gulf region to introduce a minimum wage for all workers. However, many workers still have to wait months to receive their wages. Although there are penalties, international standards are still not being met. The Amnesty Report 2023, which refers to the ILO report, states that the minimum wage is not sufficient enough for a decent standard of living for workers.
Safety and health of the workers
Health and safety during the construction of the stadiums in Qatar was not really existent. This was highlighted by another ILO report. Not much has changed at this point.
Problems in the recruitment and abuse of workers
There are still problems with the recruitment of workers. The Social and Economic Survey Research Institute of Qatar found out that 54% of low-wage workers surveyed had paid money to come to Qatar. The subsequent debt puts these workers in a precarious situation where they are more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. The way these workers are recruited is not fair and not worker friendly. However, this claim cannot be really ratified, because I didn`t find the original source of this study, only in other articles being referenced.
Failures of the Qatari government
The promises that came with the reforms were only partially fulfilled under certain conditions. Katja Müller-Fahlbusch, Middle East and North Africa specialist at Amnesty, told the Sportschau: “Qatar is failing to push forward or even properly enforce the labor reforms it introduced before the World Cup. This is not the positive legacy that the Qatari government promised migrant workers with the World Cup.” This can also be confirmed by comparing the 2021 and 2023 reports. Nothing has really changed in the accusations, the problems and the politics of Qatar. It is still the same. For example the rights to freedom of expression and assembly. The 2021 report includes reports of detention where journalists have been arrested for investigating the situation of migrant workers or people who have expressed criticism of the system. These arrests were justified on the premise that it was fake news with the aim of harming the system. If this is now compared with the 2023 reports, again there would be arrests of activists or people critical of the system. Once again, the reason given is that this would jeopardize the system. With this example, it is clear that Qatar is still the same state as before the World Cup. It may have tweaked their system a little bit here and there, but it is in concept still the same.
Conclusion
There are positive changes in Qatar, but only in few areas. These changes to the system are not far-reaching enough for the living situation of the workers to have changed abruptly for the better. Despite the improvements, international standards are still not being met. In addition, there has been no significant improvement in areas other than workers’ rights, such as human rights. It is also questionable whether the World Cup itself was the catalyst for change. It is also possible that the critical reporting on Qatar was responsible for these changes. The bottom line is that the workers in Qatar do not have significantly better conditions than before the World Cup. This statement is therefore classified as mostly false.
RESEARCH | ARTICLE | Justin Ernst, Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart, Germany
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