On Thursday 24 November, MEPs called on FIFA to contribute to a comprehensive compensation package for workers’ families for the working conditions they have suffered in the context of the preparation for the 2022 World Cup.
In the joint resolution of the Renew Europe, ECR, S&D and EPP Groups, which it adopted by a show of hands, the European Parliament deplores the thousands of migrant workers who have died or been injured in preparation for the competition. It urges the Qatari authorities to conduct an in-depth investigation into the deaths of migrant workers, demanding accountability.
Welcoming the fact that, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Qatari government has reimbursed $320 million to victims of labour abuses through the ‘Workers’ Support and Insurance Fund’, Parliament regrets that this fund only became operational in 2018 and calls for the fund to be extended to all victims since the start of work on the 2022 World Cup, also covering worker deaths and other human rights violations.
Parliament also reiterates its call on Qatar to ratify the UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.
MEPs also attack FIFA, deploring the “lack of transparency and the clear absence” of a responsible risk assessment that marked the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar in 2010, recalling their “long-standing view that corruption within FIFA is endemic, systemic and deeply rooted”.
More broadly, Parliament wants international sporting events not to be awarded to countries where fundamental and human rights are violated and systematic gender-based violence is widespread.
See the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/48x (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)