The UEFA Working Group, on its third visit to Qatar since May 2021, received the guarantee, from the country’s institutions and personalities Arab, that the fans who carry rainbow flags “will be well received” during the World Cup, according to the body chaired by Aleksander Ceferin in a statement.
The Working Group of the UEFA, made up of senior representatives of the member federations and chaired by Michele Uva, met with key Qatari institutions and personalities to discuss various issues.
The football institution spoke with the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, with the Qatar Football Association, with the Hotel Sector Working Group, with the Ministry of Labor, with the National Human Rights Committee, with FIFA, with migrant workers of multiple nationalities and different sectors, with the Center of Sports and Human Rights and with the Institute of Human Rights s and Companies.
With all of them, UEFA focused the conversations on issues such as human rights, complaint mechanisms, the rights of LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex) and press freedom.
UEFA, in the In the aforementioned statement, he pointed out that the rights of the LGBTQI + collective were discussed “widely” and stressed that “guarantees were given” that the fans will be safely received “with rainbow flags” in line with the previous declarations of welcome to the whole world to Qatar and respect for local culture and customs.
“The group asked if the hotel staff were informed about the need to welcome all guests without discrimination and obtained guarantees that this was the case. will be“, added UEFA.
The Working Group also spoke about the rights of workers and recognized that have made significant progress tives” with the impact of legislative changes demonstrated in the recent reports of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on Qatar.
“Since the new labor laws were introduced in 2020, 242,000 workers were able to change jobs (compared to less than 18.000 past year). Also, 280,000 workers received wage increases from the minimum wage. In addition, 338 businesses were closed last summer for non-compliance and heat-related disorders have decreased dramatically since 2019 by 400 percent”, points out UEFA.
Even so, He highlighted that although the legislative evolution is positive, it was found that a universal application is still necessary. And, from the meeting with migrant workers, UEFA confirmed progress but highlighted the need for additional legal support, a shelter for abused workers and translation services so that workers can fill in official forms and have access to information about their rights.
Likewise, of the individual experiences that UEFA dealt with the workers, the body chaired by Ceferin highlighted the need for them and the companies to better understand the new laws. Therefore, he concludes, a model to address all these issues is the concept of the Immigrant Workers Center.
“Significant progress was observed with regard to the new development to allow Joint Committees in different sectors and communities. 30 have been created, which will serve as the foundation for workers’ representation in the future and will continue to drive progress in Qatar. A target of 100 joint committees has been set for next year”, UEFA added.
The issue of compensation for workers who were injured or lost their lives in construction projects related to the World Cup was also discussed and the Group agreed that any injury or death on any job in any country should be compensated .
“The Supreme Committee exposed the procedures of the existing grievance mechanisms and FIFA noted that it is currently studying the compensation mechanisms and committed to reply to the NGOs within three weeks and to keep the UEFA Working Group informed”.
In addition, the Working Group met with the Supreme Committee and with representatives of the five major hotel chains in Qatar to obtain an update on the due diligence process of the hotels.
al res In this regard, it was clarified that every hotel in Qatar has been audited at least twice as part of the ongoing process to ensure compliance with the legislation. “The federations also committed to carry out due diligence with all the main local suppliers, in collaboration with the Hospitality Working Group.”
“We can look back on more than a year of activities, with seven meetings of the Working Group and three visits to Qatar . We are grateful to the Supreme Committee and all the institutions involved for being open in our dialogue and finding solutions with a view to incorporating human rights considerations as an essential pillar of sustainable football events,” said Uva.
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