World Cup dispute in the Bundestag: CDU politician calls DFB "naive" - Swiss expert mourns missed opportunity
Created: 07/04/2022, 16:57
By: Andreas Schmid
The World Cup will be held in Qatar from November 21st to December 18th.
On Monday it was a topic in the sports committee of the Bundestag.
© Darko Bandic/AP/dpa
Rarely has there been a more controversial World Cup than the Qatar World Cup in 2022. In the sports committee, experts gave an insight into the current situation on site.
Berlin – The Sports Committee in the Bundestag devoted two and a half hours to the Qatar World Cup on Monday.
The aim of the discussion, in which the German Football Association also took part, was to take stock four and a half months before the tournament.
The human rights situation inevitably came into focus, for which Amnesty International presented an updated report.
Qatar World Cup: CDU politician criticizes DFB statement - "in the end, warm words don't help"
As DFB general secretary Heike Ullrich said, a boycott is "not helpful".
In a statement by the DFB on the Qatar World Cup, it said beforehand: "The DFB takes the position that sport can build bridges within the scope of its possibilities on and off the field." make.
The CDU politician Michael Brand called it "naive" to believe that the situation of guest workers would suddenly improve as a result of the World Cup.
"We lie to ourselves when we say things like: let's talk about human rights now," said Brand in the sports committee.
He hopes for more concrete positions from the DFB.
"In the end, warm words don't help."
Ullrich argued that the organizer of the World Cup was the world football association Fifa.
The DFB wants to support compensation for guest workers, but needs the support of Fifa to do so.
"We hope for concrete feedback from Fifa in the summer." There is also an "active and visible" exchange with the sponsors Adidas and Volkswagen.
Heike Ullrich was digitally connected to the sports committee.
© Screenshot Bundestag
Soccer World Cup: Human rights commissioner sees "light and shadow" in German Qatar policy
The human rights commissioner of the federal government, Luise Amtsberg (Greens), spoke of a “worrying human rights situation” and made it clear: “Anyone who wants to host the international community must also take human rights into account.” Germany can make its contribution.
"I still believe that we can exert political influence on certain points."
Amtsberg spoke of harsher penalties for violating human rights or supporting the creation of workers' unions.
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The Green politician saw "light and shadow" in the political cooperation between Germany and Qatar.
The cooperation in flying out Afghan local workers was positive: "It goes without saying that our commitment to human rights will go beyond the World Cup." She personally will travel to Qatar before the World Cup, where there is a "very, very important" use of the German embassy.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) is also expected in Qatar before the World Cup.
Qatar: Amnesty International sees a step backwards in the reforms
Amnesty International presented an updated report on the human rights situation in Qatar: "In addition to welcome legislative reform steps, there are inadequacies, stagnation and in some cases even backward steps in the implementation of reforms."
In Saudi Arabia, for example, the situation looks much more precarious.
Dietmar Schäfers from the trade union federation Building and Woodworkers International (BWI) described Qatar as a "lighthouse" in the Gulf.
Nevertheless, the implementation of labor laws is "sluggish".
All in all, however, the Amnesty investigations showed "very clearly" "that for the majority of migrant workers, noticeable improvements in their human rights situation have not yet become a reality," says Katja Müller-Fahlbusch, Amnesty expert for the Middle East.
Only the guest workers who are directly active on the World Cup construction sites would really benefit.
That is about two percent of the approximately two million migrant workers in Qatar.
Despite legal provisions to the contrary, passports are confiscated from migrant workers, unpaid overtime is imposed, rest breaks and days are denied, heat protection measures are violated, wages are paid below the minimum wage, wages are paid late or not paid, and illegal wage losses are used as punitive measures.
Amnesty International's Human Rights Update in Qatar
According to Sebastian Sons from the Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO), the World Cup shows the strategy of the desert emirate as if under a magnifying glass.
Qatar wants to present itself as a reliable partner, for example as a partner in liquefied natural gas, and also “establish itself as a brand” and secure the legitimacy of the ruling family.
“Germany must work more closely with Qatar in the future, whether it likes it or not.
Qatar is not a partner of choice, but a partner of necessity.” Sons has already described the geopolitical appeal of the desert emirate to
Merkur.de
in the past.
"Qatar has understood that sport can put your presence on the world map and continues to have high ambitions in sports policy."
Gulf States expert Sebastian Sons travels to the Arabian Peninsula regularly.
He worked at the German Orient Institute, the German Society for International Cooperation and the German Society for Politics.
© Tagesspiegel/Imago
Qatar World Cup report: Boycott?
"There would have been a chance"
The Swiss university professor Thomas Beschorner spoke of a "repair mode".
The hearing in the Sports Committee is welcome, but comes years too late.
A boycott is no longer possible.
“There would have been other options for the Federal Republic of Germany and the DFB, namely being able to organize an alternative World Cup with important football nations;
in other words, boycott the World Cup in Qatar for humanitarian reasons,” says Beschorner's report for the Institute for Business Ethics at the University of St. Gallen.
Qatar World Cup: "The award should not have happened"
The deputy chairman of the sports committee, Philip Krämer (Greens), says
Merkur.de
from IPPEN.MEDIA: “FIFA should not have awarded the World Cup to Qatar.
Even then, the massive human rights violations by the future host country, Qatar, were widely public knowledge.” Amnesty International supports this image and calls for the observance of human rights to be integrated into future procurement processes.
However, the non-profit organization rejects a World Cup boycott, as otherwise no reforms would be possible.
Reforms would not have happened without a sharper focus on the emirate, argued the journalist Florian Bauer, who was also on the scene.
Beschorner does not believe that a World Cup boycott would be counterproductive.
The World Cup will give Qatar attention that it otherwise does not have.
This does not mean change, but a consolidation of previous structures, which his scientific study has shown.
"Democratization and liberalization through major sporting events do not actually take place and often serve to stabilize unjust regimes and apply them worldwide." This applies not only to football tournaments, but also to the Olympics, as the historian Wolfram Pyta
told
Merkur.de
IPPEN.MEDIA explained.
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