Qatar is rejecting calls from NGOs for the creation of a compensation fund for migrant workers killed or injured on construction sites for the soccer World Cup in the wealthy Gulf country, its labor minister has told reporters. AFP.
In an exclusive interview, Ali Ben Samikh Al-Marri qualifies these calls from NGOs as a “communication coup”.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are leading a campaign to seek compensation for workers who suffered “abuse” (deaths, injuries, unpaid wages, etc.) from world football’s governing body, FIFA, and the host country of the 2022 World Cup, which begins on November 20.
“Each death is a tragedy (but) there are no criteria for establishing this fund” of compensation, advances the minister. “Where are the victims? Do you have the names? “.
The minister recalled that his country had set up in 2018 a compensation fund for workers who do not receive their wages, advancing the figure of 320 million euros (about 430 million Canadian dollars) paid in 2022 alone .
“If a person entitled to compensation has not received it, let them come forward and we will help them,” he insisted, adding that Qatar is ready to examine cases dating back more than ten years. year.
As criticism intensifies as the event approaches, organizations and countries are trying to “discredit Qatar with deliberately misleading claims”, Mr. Marri also said. According to him, some foreign politicians are making the Gulf country “an arena to solve their own political problems”.
These criticisms are sometimes “motivated by racism”, he adds. “They don’t want to allow a small country, an Arab country, a Muslim country, to organize the World Cup.”
FIFA should set aside a minimum amount of 420 million euros (approximately C$565 million) to provide reparations to the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who suffered human rights abuses in Qatar during preparations for the World Cup 2022, Amnesty International wrote in a report released in May.
Mr. Marri claimed on Wednesday that such a compensation fund was not feasible.
FIFA, for its part, had indicated in mid-October that there was an “ongoing dialogue” for measures in favor of workers on construction sites.