FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Saturday accused Western countries of «hypocrisy» for criticizing the human rights situation in Qatar ahead of the World Cup without taking into account their own historical past.
«For the things that Europeans have done to the world over the last 3,000 years, they should be apologizing for another 3,000 years before they start giving moral lessons to people,» the FIFA president told a press conference.
«How many business companies, European or foreign, making millions, billions thanks to Qatar, have discussed the situation of migrant workers’ rights with the authorities. None, because changing the legislation means less profit,» he asked during the appearance, reported by the BBC.
The president opened the press conference with a monologue of almost an hour in which he defended the holding of the tournament in a country criticized for the repression against activists and the LGBTQ community and the mistreatment of foreign workers.
«Today I harbor very powerful feelings. Today I feel Qatari, I feel Arab, I feel African, I feel gay, I feel disabled, I feel a migrant worker,» he assured before qualifying that it was an expression of empathy.
«Of course I am not a Qatari, Arab, African, gay, disabled or migrant worker. But I feel like them because I know what it means to be discriminated against and harassed as a foreigner in a foreign country,» he said.
Ahead of the World Cup, former Qatar national soccer team international Khalid Salman, one of several ambassadors for the tournament starting Sunday, declared that being gay is «mentally damaging» in a documentary on German public broadcaster ZDF.
For Infantino, «this one-sided moral lesson is just hypocrisy,» he argued, before asking «why no one recognizes the progress made» in the country. «I don’t have to defend Qatar, they can defend themselves. I defend soccer. Qatar has progressed,» he assured.
In response, Amnesty International has condemned Infantino’s words, reminding him of the huge number of fatalities, reported in February last year in an investigation by ‘The Guardian’, among migrant workers who have built against the clock the stadiums where the matches will be played. The Qatari authorities have confirmed only 37 deaths among this community and only three «laborers».
«By brushing aside legitimate criticism of the human rights situation, Gianni Infantino is dismissing the enormous price paid by migrant workers to make his flagship tournament possible, as well as FIFA’s responsibility for it,» the NGO laments.
«The demands for equality, dignity and compensation cannot be treated as some kind of cultural war: they are universal Human Rights that FIFA has committed to respect in its own statutes,» adds the NGO, which recommends to the international body «if there is a glimmer of hope», the creation of a compensation fund from the money raised by the organization.
«This cannot be mere window dressing. If FIFA wants to save something from this tournament, it must announce that it will invest a significant part of the $6 billion (an approximate amount in euros) that the organization will earn from this tournament and ensure that this fund is used to directly compensate workers and their families,» Amnesty concludes.
