The award an absurdity, elementary human rights massively violated, initiated reforms in the dead end: 140 days before the start of the World Cup in Qatar (November 21 to December 18), the hearing before the Sports Committee of the Bundestag has drawn a gloomy picture of the final round organizer and pilloried the world association FIFA. Most notably, human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) on Monday accused Qatar of ongoing human rights abuses and even regressing from previous years. According to AI, there had been progress from 2017, but this had already been partially reversed by inaction on the part of the Qatari government.

“The implementation of reforms is poor. We see stagnation,” said AI expert Katja Müller-Fahlbusch. The reason is in Amnesty’s written analysis: “Resistance to the reforms is increasingly forming within the Qatari business community – out of fear of losing influence and profit opportunities.”

Amnesty calls for “compensation program”

Despite legal provisions to the contrary, the rights of migrant workers continue to be violated on a massive scale and in a variety of ways. For Qatari employers, this “as a rule remains unpunished and without consequences.

There was sharp criticism of the hearing from Qatar. “I would have been pleased if I or someone from the OC had been invited,” said the Qatari ambassador to Germany, Abdulla bin Mohammed Al-Thani, in Munich in the evening. A dialogue is only possible in personal exchange, he stressed.

Amnesty acknowledges that the Qatari government has initiated central reforms of the kafala system, but says that “noticeable improvements” have occurred almost exclusively at the direct World Cup construction sites. These are only “about two percent” of all migrant workers. AI also denounces that “70 percent of all deaths are not investigated.” Therefore, Amnesty demands “a comprehensive compensation program” from the world association FIFA for all human rights violations in connection with the World Cup.

“Human rights situation is worrying”.

In any case, FIFA failed, according to Amnesty. Despite the situation in Qatar, which was already known at the time, “no conditions whatsoever” had been imposed when the World Cup was awarded. Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers had suffered “massive human rights violations” that were “directly linked” to the World Cup. AI therefore demands from FIFA that future World Cup awards take the human rights situation into account. The German government’s human rights commissioner also had strong words. “The human rights situation is worrying,” said Luise Amtsberg. In her written report, the Green politician criticized FIFA in particular. The World Cup in 2010 “should never have been awarded to this state,” it says: “The protection of human rights must become a central requirement in the awarding process in the future.”

Other experts criticized FIFA, Qatar, sponsors and also the German Football Association (DFB) much more strongly. Among other things, this involved accusations of “silent complicity” with authoritarian regimes.

Neuendorf plans trip with Interior Minister Faeser

DFB President Bernd Neuendorf had already backed up his critical stance in kicker before the hearing, which was attended by Secretary General Heike Ullrich. According to the 60-year-old, one can already “say with certainty that it is one of the most controversial World Cups that have taken place so far”. According to Neuendorf, Ullrich’s trip to Qatar last week showed that “some things have improved” in terms of working conditions. “But many changes in the law are only inadequately implemented,” the DFB boss said: “And clear differences continued to emerge on women’s rights, freedom of the press or the LGBTIQ+ issue.”

Neuendorf plans to travel to Doha with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) before the finals. In addition, the European starters want to jointly highlight the human rights situation. “Until the fall, we will collect the ideas of the European teams,” said Ullrich: “The teams will make their mark.” After the hearing in Berlin, record champion Bayern Munich hosted a roundtable on the issue at its arena. It was attended by board boss Oliver Kahn, President Herbert Hainer and representatives of the World Cup organizers and Qatar critics – and just Ambassador Al-Thani.