FIFA World Cup: Mishap and Musings

TARGET

BY KATHELEEN FRUGALIDAD

The 2022 FIFA World Cup, which took place from November 20 to December 18, has been marred by safety concerns since it was discovered that immigrant laborers who were working on infrastructure projects in the lead-up to the event had either died or been subjected to abuse.

In the years since the World Cup was granted to Qatar in 2010, hundreds of thousands of young men have left their home countries to work under the scorching heat of the Qatari desert, providing security for the football matches, transporting fans in taxis to the games, greeting them in hotels, and serving them in restaurants as the tournament edges closer. To prepare for the influx of fans, Qatar, a city with a small population, has depended on migrant labor to construct seven new stadiums and other building projects for the event. Under extreme working conditions, Qatar’s intense heat and humidity, and gaps in labor regulations, human rights groups

On the other hand, the International Labour Organization (ILO) says this is an underestimate. Qatar doesn’t count deaths from heart attacks and respiratory failure as work-related, even though these are common symptoms of heatstroke brought on by doing heavy labor in very high temperatures. It has compiled its own figures for World Cup-related incidents, collected from government-run hospitals and ambulance services in Qatar. It says 50 foreign workers died and more than 500 others were seriously injured in 2021 alone, while another 37,600 suffered mild to moderate injuries.

The tragedies tied to this year’s World Cup, like the deaths of thousands of migrant workers building the stadiums in Qatar, created moral dilemmas for those rooting for their teams while standing against these human rights violations. A debate on how the public should have reacted to this has sparked the interest of others who the World Cup, millions of migrant workers would be needed to build and service it. These problems would not have arisen if they had developed a strategic strategy on how to effectively distribute the work and how to handle potential difficulties like the extreme heat in the workplace and the living and working circumstances of the laborers. This uncovers how irresponsible FIFA has been in addressing issues not just for stadium workers, a minority of the total migrant workforce whose employers are held to higher standards for workplace conditions, but also for workers to build and service projects for tournament preparation and delivery, including transport and accommodations, security, cleaning, and landscaping.

FIFA should use its influence to ensure that rights are respected in a wider range of infrastructure projects necessary for the delivery of the 2022 World Cup in accordance with its own Human Rights have criticized Qatar’s treatment of foreign workers.

In 2016, Amnesty International accused Qatari companies of using forced labor. It claimed that many employees were forced to live in substandard housing, pay substantial recruitment costs, have their income withheld, and have their passports impounded. In a February 2021 report by Human Rights Watch, an estimated 30,000 workers from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Philippines built World Cup infrastructures such as new stadiums, hotels, and highways. Of these workers, 6,500 were reported to have died at the hands of their employers. The Qatari administration, on the other hand, argues that the figure is misleading because not all of the fatalities included people engaged in World Cup-related operations. The government’s accident report indicated that only three of the 37 deaths of workers at World Cup stadium construction sites between 2014 and 2020 were “work- related.” later joined the discussion, disputing over whether to boycott the World Cup or let things go and move on.

However, the organization that allowed these issues to occur should have been the first to address them. Since FIFA’s approval in 2010, all World Cup nations are accountable by association for what has occurred in Qatar. Voting procedures, deaths, abuse, and human rights breaches were all disregarded. The only proper course of action was a boycott. All the warning signs were given to them well before thousands of lives had been lost, giving them 12 years to put an end to the abuses.

The organization also failed to impose strict conditions to protect workers despite repeated warnings from the workers themselves and civil society groups, and it complacently encouraged the widespread abuse workers endured, including illegal recruitment fees, wage theft, injuries, and deaths.

FIFA should have recognized that because Qatar lacked the infrastructure for

Policy. This goes beyond simply ensuring that labor rights are respected during the construction of World Cup stadiums, which would encompass significant transportation initiatives, the hospitality industry, and various other areas, such as cooling systems or lodging facilities.

As time runs out, FIFA should aggressively work to persuade the Qatari government to swiftly and fully implement the reforms it has pledged, in order for the protection of all migrant workers in the nation to be a positive legacy of the 2022 World Cup.

Blood, sweat, and tears in the game arena have been regarded as marks of success, but the effort done by the migrant labor force during the construction has been ignored. This speaks volumes about how workplace exploitation, particularly towards those who are in dire need of better opportunities for themselves and their families, is still rampant up to this day. C

AUSTRALIA

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Nasa ilalim ng isang – buwang pageensayo ang PH Beach Volleyball Team sa Brisbane, Australia na naisakatuparan dahil sa suportang ibinigay ng Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) bilang paghahanda sa 31st Southeast Asian Games.

“Hindi naging madali ang paghahanap ng bansang tatanggap sa amin. Ang una naming plano ay sa Japan gaganapin ang training ngunit dahil sa naging biglaang sitwasyon ng Pandemya dito, kailangan naming maghanap ng iba at tinanggap kami ng Australia,” wika ni Tats Suzara, PNVF President.

Sukbit ni Gonzaga ang lahing Ilongga kung saan ito ay nagtapos ng kursong Edukasyon sa Central Philippine University at sa kaniyang pamamalagi dito ay nagsilbi din itong Team Captain ng CPU Golden Lions Volleyball Team bago umusbong ang propesyonal nitong karera. C

Lion’s Highlight

BY THE CENTRAL ECHO

CPU Golden Lions:

I am so grateful that CPU has given me the chance to play and represent the banner of the Golden Lions. Being into sports taught me so many things like how to discipline myself and manage my time in balancing academics and sports.

Why did you choose CPU:

I chose CPU because it is one of the most prestigious schools in the Philippines, not just in academics, but also in its sports program. In addition, the school environment is nice and peaceful. I can say this because I have been studying at CPU ever since I was in first grade. The vast campus and the greenery of the tall trees always fill my eyes and my heart C