QNA
Washington
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has underlined that Qatar has been subjected to unprecedented criticisms due to its organisation of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He said the attack on Qatar started since it submitted the bid to host the World Cup in 2010.
In an interview with the Washington Post on Monday, the FM said, “The attitude and the behaviour of some media towards Qatar were quite negative and disappointing from our perspective. They were trying to judge Qatar not based on facts, or not based on coming here and fact-checking.”
The FM believed that this is the most inclusive World Cup, noting: “There are a lot of people from different countries, from different backgrounds who have never been able to come and enjoy the World Cup. If you look at the demography of the fans, Indian fans are there, fans from Pakistan, from Southeast Asia, from the Far East, from the Arab region, from Europe, from Latin America, from Central Asia. All of them, they are coming here and enjoying the football.”
Sheikh Mohammed pointed to the uniqueness of Qatar World Cup, saying: “In a very small country, people can go and attend four games in one day. And this made the World Cup affordable for a lot of people who never dreamed about goingto football World Cup, let alone attending multiple matches.”
“The best reward for us in Qatar is the way the fans have enjoyed this tournament. We are seeing, whether on social media or in some media outlets that are trying to report impartially, most of the visitors are having a very positive experience. I am sure there are, perhaps, some negative observations here or there.”
“But most of them are talking about how hospitable isthis country and the people of this country are. How kind they are. And this is something that we are proud of. We want to show to the world that Arab countries, the Middle Eastern region, are not only about wars and conflicts. It’s also about celebration and celebration of this beautiful game,” he stressed.
On the rights of workers and the confusion raised on this issue, the FM affirmed, “We never claim that our country is perfect. We never claimed that the conditions of the migrant labourers are perfect. Once these concerns were highlighted, Qatar acknowledged them and taken them seriously. All the reforms throughout the last 12 years that Qatar took, those have been implemented. It’s been pictured in a way that Qatar is just ignoring the fact that there is an issue, which is not the case.”
He added that in the past eight years, a group of independent lawyers were brought to examine the labour situation and to identify the gaps and loopholes, whether in the legislation or in the system in the country.
“We took the report very seriously. We had 120 recommendations at that time. A lot of these recommendations were to be dealt with at the source countries of the migrant labourers. And part of it was the responsibility of the government of Qatar,” he stressed.
Sheikh Mohammed noted that Qatar opened its doors for the NGOs, and there is no country in the region that adopts an open-door policy, like what Qatar did.
“Organisations like Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International, they can come here, they can publish their reports here. They cannot do it in some other places,” he said.
The FM emphasized that Qatar has set an example inhuman rights in the region, and leads change in this area. However,“Unfortunately, despite all of this, some NGOs and media outlets were just trying to attack Qatar without acknowledging or appreciating all these developments that happened.”
“It’s an achievement for a government system to change in 10 years. Europe didn’t change in 10 years. The US didn’t change in 10 years. We have accelerated these changes. And we are also thankful for the World Cup that helped us in accelerating these kinds of changes,” he added.
“But critics have been always pointing at the government and the government’s responsibility. They never point at the companies. If there was a situation happening in Europe with migrant labourers being exploited, they would blame the company involved, never the government,” he continued.
Regarding migrant worker’s death tolls, the FM said that the death rates are published every year, based on nationality.
“We don’t categorize by jobs. But this is the classification that we have been using. And this is a department that has been established only a few years ago. We cannot expect from them to have an expertise and publish everything with all the details. And this is a journey that will need time. But our critics don’t want to listen to the other side. That’s our problem. There is a consistency in just attacking the country,” he added.
Sheikh Mohammed indicated that Qatar welcomes everybody, saying: “What we have been asking is for the visitors who are visiting us to come here to enjoy the football, focus on the football, enjoy our culture, enjoy the country and the hospitality of the country. Just respect the laws, which is something that is expected of Qataris when they are traveling in other countries. Respect our laws and our traditions.”
He said, “We have been very clear: It’s not our business what is the background of the people who are coming. Our business is whatever is affecting the public safety or trying by any means to offend the public. It’s not something that’s pointed or directed toward one orientation or another. This is applied to everyone.”
“Whatever is happening on the pitch, this is FIFA rules, not Qatar rules. Whatever is happening outside the pitch is our rules,” he added.
The FM noted that Qatar has delivered something historic having all these people coming and experiencing the Middle East.
“We are 100 percent certain that it will help a lot in changing the perception of a lot of people around the world about the region. All this infrastructure Qatar had planned back even before the bid, as part of our National Vision 2030. And the World Cup helped in accelerating this to be delivered and to be achieved. It’s going to continue to serve this vision for economic diversification and for our tourism sector continuing to flourish,’ he added.
The FM underlined that Qatar feels very proud for being able to bring all the Arabs back together, and this is the beauty and the magic of the game itself, how it brings people from different backgrounds, Arabs and non-Arabs, everyone from everywhere, together.
“You can never see this happening in the West, but you see it happen here because there’s a common denominator bringing us all together - we believe that all of us belong to each other. What you have seen here in Qatar, the way that the people and the fans blended together, it’s really something fascinating that I don’t think that we have ever seen before. And maybe we will never be able to see it again,” he said.
