Saturday, October 16, 2021

No Human Rights in Qatar

In the euphoria of qualification we tend to forget that our football teams are qualifying to a World Cup in a country that should never have been awarded the tournament, and where the rights of workers are disregarded, bot to say abused.

A tournament that is built on the sweat and tears of thousands of people who do not have the luxury of enjoying football, but who have to fight to escape poverty. I was disturbed to read on Amnesty International´s site about the continued mistreatment and deaths of migrant workers in Qatar; it appears that having the world's eyes on you make no difference to how you treat people who work for you. 

Is there anything football fans can do? Why can we not scream our lungs out for these migrant workers? Why not carry banners and flags to the stadiums in support of these workers? Just like we carry rainbow flags, why not carry the flags of Bangladesh and Nepal, where many of the workers come from? Carry the pictures of these guys, guys like you and me, who were trampled on by football? Why not make such a fuzz that it can shame FIFA and the Qatari government into a minimum of respect for human rights? 

I hope there will be more of a fuzz to create attention and combat the abuse of migrant workers in Qatar.

No comments: