Two and a half months before the start of the soccer World Cup in Qatar there are calls for a boycott of the tournament. Michael Brand (CDU), human rights policy spokesman for the Union faction, said WELT AM SONNTAG: "Of course I wish the team every success, but politicians should boycott this World Cup." The DFB should participate in the compensation of workers who work on the World Cup construction sites had been damaged, Brand continued.
Wolfgang Stefinger (CSU), chairman of the Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development, agreed with Brand. He described the situation of guest workers to WELT AM SONNTAG as "devastating." He could "gain a lot" from a political boycott, but he rejects a boycott by the national team. Martin Diedenhofen (SPD) is also calling for a boycott, which is "out of the question." In view of the desolate human rights situation, he calls the awarding of the tournament to Qatar "incomprehensible".
Boris Mijatović (Greens), spokesman for human rights and humanitarian aid, told WELT AM SONNTAG that he had "a lot of understanding for more and more fans" who would boycott the Qatar World Cup. André Hahn (left) also expressed "great understanding" for calls for a World Cup boycott. However, both did not join the voices. "I'm in favor of dialogue instead of a boycott," said Hahn. And according to Mijatović, a boycott would call into question “what has been achieved in Qatar and the region”. He was referring to the labor market reforms, which are intended to guarantee, among other things, a statutory minimum wage and free job changes. In addition, the kafala system was abolished.
However, recent research by WELT AM SONNTAG showed that there are still major abuses in the emirate and that the exploitation of workers is the order of the day. Workers who want to draw attention to their plight are also denied the right to demonstrate. Recently, dozens of foreigners were arrested and deported during a protest.
The World Cup in Qatar gets a real opening game with the hosts' game against Ecuador - and this a day earlier than previously planned. As the AFP news agency reports, the winter tournament is scheduled to begin on November 20th.
Source: SID
The sports policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, Sabine Poschmann, calls the implementation of the labor market reforms in Qatar "unsatisfactory". The resistance to the reform process in the Qatari economy is still great, according to the social democrat. Luise Amtsberg (Greens), Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office, called the suppression of workers' strikes in Qatar "worrying." She announced to WELT AM SONNTAG that she would travel to Qatar at the end of October: "The human rights developments and deficits will be the dominant theme.”
Renata Alt (FDP), Chairwoman of the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid, calls for Germany to do more in the area of human rights. "Germany must continuously work to improve the human rights situation in Qatar," she told WELT AM SONNTAG. Criticism of World Cup organizer Qatar also comes from Philipp Hartewig (FDP), who calls the World Cup award a "mistake". According to the chairman of the Bundestag Sports Committee, the discussion about the World Cup should not begin a few years earlier.
Peter Heidt, human rights policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, was more moderate. During a trip to Qatar in June this year, through talks with the International Labor Organization of the United Nations (ILO), he was able to see for himself that Qatar had made progress in recent years. He rejects a diplomatic boycott.
The member of the sports committee Johannes Steiniger (CDU) called Qatar a "cancer of football". The human rights situation in Qatar is "very questionable", according to the member of the Bundestag. At the same time, he criticized the discussion about the Qatar World Cup as "hypocritical": "We don't want to organize major sporting events ourselves, but we complain when only dictatorships apply for the Olympics and Co.," he told WELT AM SONNTAG. Peter Ramsauer (CSU) explained: If major sporting events in Germany are repeatedly prevented by protests, then they are taking place in autocracies. Boycott demands are "hypocritical manoeuvres."