Fifa boss Sepp Blatter on Friday went on the defensive over claims of widespread abuse of migrant workers preparing for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, acknowledging concerns but saying it could not step in.
Fifa boss Sepp Blatter on Friday went on the defensive over claims of widespread abuse of migrant workers preparing for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, acknowledging concerns but saying it could not step in. “Fifa cannot interfere with the labour rights of any country, but we cannot ignore them,” Blatter said on his Twitter account after Fifa wrapped up a crunch two-day meeting behind closed doors at its Zurich base. The tweet marked his first public comments on the storm raging since a report by Britain’s the Guardian newspaper last week. The global football governing body’s 2010 decision to name Qatar to host the 2022 edition of the international game’s showcase tournament has been dogged by controversy from the outset. Even before renewed claims that migrant labourers in wealthy Qatar are treated like slaves — and paying with their lives — on Thursday and Friday’s session of Fifa’s executive committee had been expected to focus heavily on Qatar. Controversy is raging over the idea of shifting the tournament from the World Cup’s traditional June and July slot to escape the scorching Gulf heat — a climate issue critics say should have been self-evident from the outset. European leagues are up in arms, saying such a move would cause havoc to their fixtures, while winter sports federations and broadcasters argue that a high-profile football event in the middle of their own seasons would dent television audiences and revenues. Addressing that issue, Blatter tweeted that the executive committee had “decided to launch a consultation process among main stakeholders for Qatar 2022 dates” and that no decision would be taken before the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Qatar repeatedly has rejected claims that conditions on the emirate’s construction sites can be tantamount to forced labour.
