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Sportswashing
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In November, the final matches of the European qualifying matches of the World Cup-2022 ended. The Russian team, among others, could not go directly to the final stage and will now break through the butt matches. The tournament itself will be held in November -December 2022 in Qatar - it will become the first mundial held in the Middle Eastern state. Despite the fact that Qatar received the right to host a tournament back in 2010, a series of scandals seriously threatened the mundial in the Emirate.
We understand how football was connected with the problem of human rights and corruption in Arab Petroacrats, and Nefteedollars have become the main element of “sports diplomacy”.
Publication
December 8, 2021
Qatar is one of the world's largest exporters of oil and natural gas. Thanks to this, in Qatar, one of the highest GDP per capita is about 100 thousand dollars. For comparison, in Russia this indicator is more than three times less.
The population of Qatar is about 2.8 million people. At the same time, the country's citizens are approximately 300 thousand people, while the vast majority of residents make up labor migrants. Most of them come to work from South Asia. Such a great need for labor is largely caused by the conduct of the World Cup: Qatar should build seven stadiums, airport, dozens of hotels and even a new city .
At the same time, the level of safety of workers engaged in construction facilities remains extremely low. According to the report by Amnesty International, published in August 2021, several hundred workers migrants have died over the past decade, and the government could not explain the causes of 70% of them.
The organizing committee of the World Cup 2022 announced the death of 38 workers at the construction sites of the World Cup, 35 of which were classified as "not related to work." Amnesty International believe that almost half of these deaths were not properly investigated or justified.
At the same time, the real number of deaths during the construction of stadiums and infrastructure objects can be several times higher. According to The Guardian investigation , from the moment of receipt of the right to conduct the World Cup 2022, 6.5 thousand migrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka died in Katar. However, this is not complete statistics: among other things, it does not have data on migrants from other countries, including Kenya and the Philippines - citizens of these states also actively come to Qatar to work.
The situation with the rights of workers in Qatar was the cause of the concern of human rights activists. Activists in several European countries began to call on national football federations to boycott the tournament. In May 2021, six Scandinavian football federations sent a letter to President FIFA Gianni Infantino and the Secretary General of the organization Fatme Samura with an appeal to ensure the observance of human rights in the country of the upcoming world championship, and in December 2021 they were going to visit Qatar along with representatives of trade unions and human rights organizations.
The basis of problems with ensuring safe working conditions for migrants is a system called Kafala, which can be translated as a “guarantee system”.
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What is Kafala?
The “Sponsorship” system is used in the Persian Gulf states to regulate the activities of foreign workers in the country. For a long time it was used in Qatar. Kafala suggests that all unskilled workers in the country have a guarantor - usually an employer - who is responsible for their visa and legal status.
In fact, this creates a wide scope for abuse. Upon arrival of employees to the country, employers often confiscate passports and violate their rights, while the risk of legal consequences for sponsors is minimal. For a long time, even legally labor migrants were in an unequal position - they could not change their place of work on their own. Moreover, they did not have the opportunity to leave the country without the permission of the employer: in Qatar there was a system of field visas for foreign workers.
How does Qatar react to criticism?
Under the pressure of human rights activists, Qatar, at least on paper, takes measures to improve the situation of workers coming to the country. In September 2020, a significant part of the provisions of Kafala was actually canceled: workers received the right to change their place of work and - most of them - to leave the country without the permission of the former employer. However, new norms do not apply to residents who are not subject to labor legislation, including, for example, public servants, oil and gas sector workers and private companies. Homemade workers were obliged to inform their employers in advance about the desire to leave the country. In the human rights organization, Human Rights Watch fears that this norm can create a feeling of workers, that they should still ask for permission.
In March 2021, the law on the minimum wage entered into force, which was also extended to migrants: it will have to apply to all employees of all nationalities and in all sectors, including in relation to domestic workers - the most unprotected category from the point of view of labor law. Qatar became the second country of the Persian Gulf after Kuwait, in which they introduced a minimum wage for migrants. Nevertheless, human rights organizations reported that the new norm is not always respected and the salary of many migrants remains lower than the minimum set level. In response to this, the Katar government assured that it strengthened measures to identify unscrupulous employers and actively imposes sanctions on them.
In addition to the minimum monthly basic salary in the amount of 1,000 Qatar Rials (about $ 275 at the time of publication), the legislation stipulates that employers must pay food and housing benefits - at least 300 and 500 Rials, respectively, if they do not provide employees directly. A restriction on the number of hours of open air in the hot season was also introduced and the temperature maximum was set.
Despite this, Amnesty International and Humans Rights Watch recognized the measures used insufficient. Trade Unions are still prohibited in the country, and a lack of legal fueling among migrants gives scope for manipulations by employers. Many workers still have to give a bribe just in order to find a job.
Despite this, the Qatari officials said that the country is safe for LGBT fans and players who can come and visit during the World Cup. But they emphasized that they will have to respect the traditions of Qatar.
Corruption scandal in FIFA
In April 2020, the US Department of Justice accused three high-ranking FIFA employees of taking bribes for voting in favor of Qatar during the election of the country of the World Cup-2022 According to the US Ministry of Justice, when choosing the organizer of the 2018 World Cup, which was held in Russia, corruption also took place .
However, it is unlikely that the trials will prevent Kataru from conducting a mundial. In addition to the very fact of receiving a bribe by FIFA employees, the prosecution will also have to prove that people who were directly related to the submission of the Qatari application were involved in this. Moreover, it will be necessary to prove that bribed voices played a decisive role in voting. To do this is problematic, given that in each of the four rounds of voting, Qatar was ahead of the nearest competitor by more than three votes.
A little earlier, in 2017, the German newspaper Bild published the results of the FIFA internal investigation. According to the publication, Qatar used his scout network to select children from around the world to his Aspire Academy football Academy in order to receive the support of the members of the FIFA Executive Council when choosing the organizer of the World Cup. Bild claims that Aspire Academy sent scouts to countries with not the richest football history in return for the voices of their representatives.
At the end of November 2021, Associated Pressissued an investigation about how Qatar fought for the championship. According to the publication, the oil and gas state hired an ex-employee of the CIA so that for several years he monitored competitors and high-ranking football officials in FIFA. He also promised to help the state “maintain dominance” over numerous foreign workers.
Sports diplomacy
Sport is one of the main elements of the “soft power” of Qatar. In recent years, the state has invested billions of dollars into it and, apparently, is not going to stop.
In 2011, the Qatarian emir became the actual owner The club was purchased by the Qatar Sports Investments State Foundation of the French Club of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), and the state airline Qatar Airways has been sponsored top football teams, such as Barcelona, Bavaria, Roma and Boka Huniors. The company is also an official partner and official Airlines FIFA.
Already, prestigious competitions are regularly held in Doha in a variety of sports-from tennis to Formula 1. In 2006, summer Asian games were held in the capital of Katar, and in 2019 - the World Athletics Championship. The National Olympic Committee also applied for the 2020 Olympic Games Docha could not get the right to hold games in 2020 - Madrid, Tokyo and Istanbul fell into the final shortstock. As a result, the Olympic Games-2020 were held in Tokyo in 2021 .
To improve sports results, Qatar is actively resorting to naturalization - the issuance of Qatari passports to foreign athletes. This system is seriously criticized, since, according to experts, it creates unequal conditions for the development of sports in different countries. For example, the Serbian handball player Daniel Sharich received about 500 thousand euros for a change in citizenship. At the expense of high fees, eminent football coaches and players are invited to the country - as a rule, at the sunset.
The Briton David Backham, who had already completed a football career, was criticized by human rights activists for closing his eyes to the human rights situation in the country, becoming the face of the World Cup in Qatar and receiving, as a number of media reports, in the region of 150 million pounds.
The sports industry has become strategically important for Qatar. In addition to its reputation function, in the long run, investments in sports should help diversify the Qatari economy, weakening its dependence on oil and gas revenues.
From Doha to Er-Riyad
Sports are used to promote their positions in the world and other states of the Persian Gulf: among others, Saudi Arabia is an increasingly noticeable player in the football industry - a geographical neighbor and political opponent of Qatar.
In 2024, at the next FIFA Congress, we will find out who will accept the Mundial in 2030. Saudi Arabia is one of the presidential states. The country has practically no chances for an independent tournament: FIFA is trying to alternate the regions when choosing a hostess country, so one of the possible options for Riyadh is to apply together with Italy. However, the principle of rotation of the continents is not the only obstacle facing Arabu Peterocracy.
As in the case of Qatar, one of the main problems is the reputation of the Saudi state. Saudi Arabia is a theocratic monarchy that is characterized by one of the most stringent legal systems in the world. Despite the fact that in recent years, the Saudis have become purposefully engaged in improving the reputation - expanding the rights of women in the country, developing tourism and investing in the shares of large international corporations - the state continues to fall into scandals related to human rights.
One of the most high -profile cases is the murder of opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi in November 2018. His body was found in a well in the garden of the residence of the consul of Saudi Arabia in Turkey. According to the human rights organization “Reporters without Borders”, the Crown Prince and the actual head of state Muhammad Ben Salman are behind the murder of the journalist. Ben Salman is alsoaccused of killing his uncle, King of Saudi Arabia Abdullah in 2015.
Saudis’s desire to improve the country's image through sports faces resistance from a certain part of the football community, but he still cannot stop the process. In October 2021, the Saudi Government of State Investments of Saudi Arabia was bought by the Newcastle football club, which performs in the highest English division. The real owner of the team is all the same Prince Salman. The deal took place-despite the fact that all other clubs of the English Premier League opposed it.