To defend Qatar, Infantino has remembered his life. “I am the son of migrant workers, my parents worked a lot in very difficult conditions. Not in Qatar, but in Switzerland. I remember perfectly where the migrants were in Switzerland, where they lived, the rights they had. I remember that when I was As a child I saw how they were treated, what happened to their passports, medical checks, accommodation.” Son of Italians and raised in Switzerland, Infantino has stated that Qatar has improved a lot in terms of human rights and that the working conditions of workers in the country are not that different from those in Europe, “except for the salaries, which are lower” . Some reports claim that more than 6,000 workers have lost their lives in the last decade working in Qatar in very harsh conditions. The Qatari government admits only three deaths to occupational accidents and claims that the other deaths were due to health problems. Most of the dead are men in their 30s and 40s, which has led organizations such as Amnesty International to question how so many deaths from heart problems can occur in men of the same age. In fact, a commission from the Qatari government itself recommended opening an investigation in 2016, but the causes of the workers’ deaths have not been investigated. The complaints received have led the Doha government to amend its constitution to give workers more rights, but many organizations still criticize the conditions faced by workers in places like Nepal or India.
Doble moral
“The Europeans, the Westerners, teach us many lessons. And in the last 3,000 years we should apologize for the next 3,000 years before continuing to teach people lessons, for everything we Europeans have done to the world,” Infantino defended . He said this to remind us that none of the Western companies doing business in Qatar have addressed the rights of migrant workers like FIFA, which could imply that they would have better incomes. “I don’t have to defend Qatar. They can defend themselves. I defend football and injustice. Many come here and they don’t care about these workers. FIFA does care, football does and so does Qatar,” he defended .
Infantino insisted: “We in Europe close our borders, we do not allow workers from these countries, or if we do it is in minimal numbers, so that they can work. We know that there are many illegal workers in European countries, who live in bad conditions,” he continued. “Those who arrive in Europe do so through very complicated routes. If Europe really cared about the fate of these people, young people, they could also do what Qatar is doing, create legal routes and routes through which at least a percentage of these workers could arrive in Europe and have a job and a place of hope”, he added.
The president’s speech was made hours after Hassan Al Thawadi, secretary general of Qatar 2022, issued a statement against criticism of the country: “This World Cup is probably the most written and commented on, even before it is threw a ball It is very unfortunate that much of this commentary has veered towards the acceptance of misinformation, the rejection of nuance and depth, and that it often rests on racist tropes based on long-held prejudices and stereotypes about the The Middle East and the Arab world”.
