FIFA wins union case over Qatar
Print Edition
FIFA has defeated a legal challenge by trade union groups over picking Qatar as the 2022 World Cup host.
FIFA said the Commercial Court in Zurich rejected a case filed by labor activists in the Netherlands and Bangladesh on behalf of a Bangladeshi construction worker employed on a World Cup project.
The case claimed FIFA acted wrongfully in choosing Qatar without demanding reform of labor laws, and should be held liable for abuses.
Labor and human rights groups have campaigned against a system for employing hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in the gas-rich emirate.
FIFA says it “welcomes the decision”, and “will continue to urge the Qatari authorities to ensure safe and decent working conditions for construction workers”.
In October, the FNV, the Netherlands’ largest trade union, and one of its members had threatened to sue FIFA for alleged wrongful conduct and liability for human rights violations in relation to the World Cup in Qatar.
The summons came after rights groups accused Qatar of abusing the rights of more than 5,000 workers helping to build the facilities for the Gulf state which will host the 2022 World Cup.
In March, Amnesty International published a report saying workers at the Khalifa International Stadium, mostly from Bangladesh, India and Nepal, were lied to about their salaries, went unpaid for months and were housed in squalid accommodation, which it claimed amounted to forced labor.
One of the workers was Nadim Shariful Alam, 32, who belongs to the FNV’s international branch and was a co-plaintiff in the 1.1-million-member FNV’s case.
Alam “was lured to Qatar with a pretty tale and paid 3,976 euros (US$4,400) to a recruiter,” the FNV said.
“In exchange he had to unload ships for a year-and-a-half as a modern slave, live in dreadful conditions with thousands in a specially-built camp and had to hand in his passport,” it added.
The poor treatment of construction workers is one of the major issues dogging Qatar since the controversial decision in December 2010 to award it the right to host football’s flagship tournament.
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