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The Lusail Stadium in the Qatari capital of Doha, where the World Cup final will take place in December
Photo:
GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP
Qatar has been criticized for the human rights situation in the country for years.
Nevertheless, Qatar is making itself felt in world sports with generous sponsorships, not least with hosting the soccer World Cup this year.
With the so-called sports washing, the public reputation should be increased and there are always larger partners.
Clubs like FC Bayern, the Qatar Airways logo can be found on the shirt sleeve, justify the cooperation with advances in human and labor rights, among other things.
And so does the DFB.
Association director Oliver Bierhoff called Qatar a "driver of developments", albeit "slower than anyone could have hoped for".
The human rights organization Amnesty puts it differently.
A recent report on the situation in the host country, covering last year, said that despite assurances to the contrary, the government failed to "introduce and enforce reforms, leading to exploitative practices and the worst elements of the sponsorship system persisted«.
Continued exploitation in the country
The kafala system, criticized as slave-like, was an abuse-prone labor law for foreign workers, in which they had to surrender their passport to a “local sponsor”.
It was officially dismantled, but Amnesty is currently drawing a different picture:
Authorities failed to "properly investigate the deaths of thousands of migrant workers who died suddenly and unexpectedly in recent years."
This would deny the surviving dependents the opportunity to receive compensation.
There are "insurmountable bureaucratic obstacles" for migrant workers when changing jobs if they do not want to ask their employer for permission, even though consent is no longer required by law.
Women domestic workers are largely cut off from the outside world because they live in their employers' households.
If migrant workers wanted to escape the conditions, employers would have the right to revoke the residence permit and charge them with leaving the workplace without permission.
The introduction of a minimum wage did not go as announced either, guest workers were cheated out of money without being able to defend themselves legally.
Not to mention the formation of unions.
In its report, Amnesty also criticized freedom of expression and freedom of the press in Qatar and criticized arbitrary arrests.
Among them are those of two Norwegian journalists who tried to cover problems ahead of the World Cup and were detained for more than 30 hours in November.
They were accused of trespassing on private property and filming without permission.
Report probably comes at the wrong time for Qatar
"The authorities continued to restrict freedom of expression in 2021 and used vaguely worded laws to silence critical voices," the report reads.
Women would continue to be discriminated against, and homosexuality would continue to be punished as »fornication«.
Consensual sexual acts between men in Qatar face up to seven years in prison.
Amnesty's annual report is believed to come at the wrong time for Qatar.
Only last week, during a visit by Economics Minister Robert Habeck, the emirate positioned itself as a possible lifeline in the energy crisis caused by the Ukraine war.
Habeck negotiated liquefied gas deals to help end Germany's dependence on Russian gas as quickly as possible.
In addition, the group draw for the World Cup, which starts on November 21st, will take place on April 1st.
In the past there have always been calls for a boycott.
SPD boss Lars Klingbeil, who has been a member of FC Bayern's administrative advisory board since last week, called for a clear stance from the DFB.
»The World Cup is taking place.
I also think it must take place with German participation.
But it must not take place in a vacuum," said Klingbeil of the SID news agency.
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