FIFA exec: Qatar uses slave labor to build WC... but we can't do anything about it

Fifa says there is little it can do about labour conditions in Qatar

German member of Fifa executive tells EU parliament that decision to hold 2022 World Cup in Qatar cannot be reversed
Thursday 13 February 2014 11.33 EST


Theo Zwanziger of Fifa said: 'What do you expect of a football organisation? Fifa is not the lawmaker in Qatar.' Photograph: John Thys/AFP/Getty Images
Ian Traynor in Brussels

The world footballing authority conceded on Thursday that there was little it could do to remedy the ordeal for migrant workers in Qatar reduced to slave labour conditions in creating the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup. But a Fifa board member dismissed all talk of reversing the decision to hold the tournament there even if conditions were not improved.

A European parliament hearing on the scandal, first revealed by the Guardian last year, was told that Qatar was a slave state for migrant workers, scores of whom had died in appalling conditions while or after working on the building sites of the Gulf country.

Theo Zwanzinger, Germany's member of the Fifa executive, admitted conditions for migrant workers in Qatar were "absolutely unacceptable", agreed that human rights considerations should play a bigger role in the decisions of world and European football authorities, and added that Fifa would be carrying out detailed and independent monitoring of the working conditions surrounding the World Cup building boom. But there could be no going back on decisions already taken.

"This feudal system existed [in Qatar] before the World Cup," he said. "What do you expect of a football organisation? Fifa is not the lawmaker in Qatar."


Human rights activists and trade unionists demanded a more forceful role by Fifa at the meeting, which also heard wrenching testimony from the French-Algerian footballer Zahir Belounis, who had his passport confiscated and was denied an exit permit because of a dispute with his Qatari club. He was trapped in Qatar for two years largely unpaid and unable to leave.

"I just wanted to go home," he told the hearing. "I'm the victim of a system of modern slavery."

Much of the criticism of Qatar centred on the so-called kafala system in the labour market, which essentially confers quasi-ownership rights over employees or migrant labourers, a form of neo-feudalism.

The Qatari World Cup organisers submitted a 50-page report this week pledging to improve the plight of migrant workers. Chairing the meeting, the German Greens MEP Barbara Lochbihler said the Qatari promises were welcome but that a more systemic policy was needed rather than piecemeal remedies.

The Qatari government sent a letter to the parliament in Brussels on Thursday stating that about 2,000 companies had been blacklisted last year and almost 500 so far this year for questionable labour market and employment practices.

MEPs complained at the hearing that the Qatari embassy in Brussels had declined to take part in the hearing and that firms recruiting workers for contracts in Qatar had also stayed away, as did Uefa, the European footballing authority.

Zwanzinger signalled that there were frictions within Fifa and Uefa over how to deal with political, ethical and human rights issues.

"If you continue to run the World Cup in a state which enslaves workers, it shames the game. The government must end of the system of kafala if the World Cup is to be played in Qatar in 2022," said Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the international trades union congress. "We want hear from the Fifa president and executive committee about how they will guarantee that the World Cup must only go ahead if there is legal reform to kafala and for workers' rights. The new charter from World Cup organisers in Qatar sets out sham conditions, without even any means to ensure that companies comply."

Zwanzinger declined to give such assurances from Fifa.

"That would be absolutely counter-productive," he said. "Pressure and threats won't achieve much … We have a duty. The decision has been taken to grant the World Cup to Qatar, whether I like it or not."

Burrow said: "Qatar is a slave state for 1.4 million migrant workers. It doesn't have to be that way. Qatar chooses to build its modern nation with the labour of migrant workers and deliberately chooses to maintain a system that treats these workers as less than human."

Then maybe the individual confederations should do something about it and threaten a boycott.

Even if they could do something about it...I don't think they would.

Because they're cowards.

Horrible representation of the arab countries.. they should feel ashamed..

Giggity5313 wrote:Horrible representation of the arab countries.. they should feel ashamed..

FIFA are the ones that should be ashamed as should everyone that voted and promoted the Qatar bid (yes you Guardiola).

IF there was one arab country to do the WC i would definetly chose morroco or lebanon.. shout out to algeria too.

here we go agian , acting as if qatar is the only nation on earth that has slave wages and bad working conditions .


if you're that devastated by this reality , start by throwing your iphone . some poor child earning slave wages suffered Skin deep splinters assembling it .

farfan wrote:here we go agian , acting as if qatar is the only nation on earth that has slave wages and bad working conditions .


if you're that devastated by  this reality , start by throwing your iphone . some  poor child earning slave wages  suffered Skin deep splinters assembling it .

Are you actually defending this?   

The_Badger wrote:

farfan wrote:here we go agian , acting as if qatar is the only nation on earth that has slave wages and bad working conditions .


if you're that devastated by  this reality , start by throwing your iphone . some  poor child earning slave wages  suffered Skin deep splinters assembling it .

Are you actually defending this?   

i'm not defending anything .
i just live in the real world and know that these sort of injustice is inevitable .

qatar is hardly the most extreme case.

So we should just shut up and say nothing about the exploitation and abuse of people? Great attitude.

The_Badger wrote:So we should just shut up and say nothing about the exploitation and abuse of people? Great attitude.

....and that's why i used the iphone example.

if you want to do something about modern slave work , start by boycotting all the cheaply made goods that western corporations export out of china . conveniently , the outrage is always more subtle when you're talking about stuff like iphones , i-pads etc..... even though everybody knows the inhumane conditions that went into making those products .

it's easy to single out countries like qatar.

Qatar is being singled out here because it is to host one of the greatest sporting events in the world, but let's just ignore that because it's unfair to mention Qatar when Foxconn have questionable human rights records.

farfan wrote:here we go agian , acting as if qatar is the only nation on earth that has slave wages and bad working conditions .


if you're that devastated by  this reality , start by throwing your iphone . some  poor child earning slave wages  suffered Skin deep splinters assembling it .

Last time I heard of the hundreds of thousands of people working at Foxconn only less than a dozen committed suicide due to bad working conditions. The facilities that I have seen in the press are actually relatively nice. And they have the option to leave whenever they want. Not at all comparable to a system that automatically enslaves millions of workers.

I refuse that FIFA can't do anything about it, only that Qatar has them in their pocket (they only got the bid because they bribed a number of people). If Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Italy and Spain all decided to boycott the 2022 WC I'm sure FIFA would find a way to change the location.

Fifa are a joke.

How about "Get your act together or well strip you of the WC.." How about that?

They should be saying the same exact thing to russia right now with their horrible handling of the olympics, and their caveman like view and treatment of the homosexual community. Fifa have done nothing. They can't come out with their hole "Stop racism/bigotry" campaign, and then be all chummy with Russia and act like their views aren't an issue. l can't believe fifa is just sitting there acting like their hands are tied. They could do something about all of this.

This entire WC has been a shambles from day one, im sure over the years in the lead up it will just get worse too, this shows what myopic greed ultimately leads to

Shouldve had it in Australia, we've already got several stadiums good enough for a WC built and we couldve done a much better job then Qatar are

fatman123 wrote:Shouldve had it in Australia

Nah Blatter would get freaked out when the water in his toilet started spinning backwards

inb4thatsanurbanmythlexffs

Because if FIFA does anything about it they will open a pandora's box that no one wants to deal with

farfan wrote:here we go agian , acting as if qatar is the only nation on earth that has slave wages and bad working conditions .


if you're that devastated by  this reality , start by throwing your iphone . some  poor child earning slave wages  suffered Skin deep splinters assembling it .

Don't pretend that FIFA was forced to choose a country that was going to use slave labour to build their stadiums.

It's too bad they didn't present this in the bids:

Australia:
Slavery: ILLEGAL
Working conditions: 2nd highest minimum wage in the world, occupational health and safety laws in place.

Qatar:
Slavery: YES
Working conditions: Many people could die building the stadiums, but they're just slaves anyway, so they don't really count.