We will soon discover whether it’s possible to play football with a clouded conscience. Qatar is a country where many basic human rights - as itemised in the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights - are denied. It’s illegal to be gay in Quatar, where the punishments for same-sex attraction are severe (and even if the morality police fail to act, a gay person’s family may decide to take the law into their own hands). Qatari women live under the oppressive custody of male guardians; in many areas of life they are not free to make their own choices.
The migrant workers who built the eye-catching stadia are mostly impoverished young men from Asia and Africa. They worked in blistering heat, for minimum wage, and, having had their passports confiscated, they were not free to negotiate better pay and conditions, or even to return home. Since the World Cup was awarded to Qatar, ten years ago, approximately 6,500 of these construction workers have died.
Human rights are abused, to some extent, in every country on the planet. Islam, however, is one of the few organisations which attempts to justify these abuses. FIFA and Qatar should fund a compensation scheme for these migrant workers and their families. Though that won’t ensure a clear conscience for players and spectators at the World Cup, it will at least be a start.
Licenced today: Glass Works Square in Barnsley, South Yorkshire…
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