Qatar lauds Putin, Russian support in organizing World Cup
FIFA says it's open to creating compensation fund for migrant workers
Qatar's emir thanked Vladimir Putin on Thursday for what he said was Russia's support organizing the upcoming World Cup.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also lauded Russia's hosting of the soccer tournament in 2018.
"After Russia made a great success in organizing the 2018 World Cup, Russian friends have provided great support to Qatar, especially in terms of organization, with the organizing committee of the 2022 World Cup," the emir said. "We thank you for this and we are proud of this relationship. This will continue until the end of the World Cup. I am very happy to see you, Mr. President. Thank you."
The Russian president wished Qatar success in hosting this year's event, which starts on Nov. 20.
"We are also doing everything we can in terms of transferring the experience of preparing for the World Cup, you know this, we just had the opportunity to talk about it with you," Putin said. "I would like to wish you success in holding this major event. I'm sure that it will be [a success]."
Neither leader specified how exactly Russia had helped Qatar, the first Arab country to host the World Cup.
One area in which Qatar has followed Russia's example is by requiring fans to sign up for a mandatory ID, known as a Hayya Card. Similarly to the Fan ID scheme Russia introduced in 2018, fans use the digital Hayya Cards to enter the country and can only enter a World Cup stadium if they present a card.
Russia reached the World Cup quarter-finals as host in 2018 but is not playing in Qatar after being barred from the qualifying playoffs following its invasion of Ukraine.
FIFA open to compensation fund for workers
FIFA wants to help workers in Qatar get compensation for being injured while building projects for the World Cup, one of the soccer body's top officials told European lawmakers on Thursday.
Soccer federations in Europe have supported calls for a fund since Amnesty International said FIFA should contribute $440 million US toward reparations — matching the total prize money FIFA will pay to the 32 national teams playing in Qatar next month.
Qatar has faced intense scrutiny of the physical and contractual conditions for hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who were needed in the tiny emirate since the World Cup hosting rights were won 12 years ago.
Compensation is "certainly something that we're interested in progressing," FIFA deputy secretary general Alasdair Bell told a Council of Europe session on labour rights in Qatar.
FIFA was urged on Thursday to use its leverage with the World Cup host nation by the official who publicly criticized Qatar when global soccer leaders met in Doha this year.
Ensuring compensation is paid should be a key target for FIFA to secure a positive legacy in Qatar after the World Cup, Norwegian soccer federation president Lise Klaveness told lawmakers.
"It is difficult to frame it in but it is necessary, also for historical abuses, injuries and deaths," she said, adding that a lack of independent investigations of unexplained worker fatalities in Qatar was an "elephant in the room."
FIFA's Bell agreed with Klaveness that a reparations fund "is not the simplest thing to put into place" and would need clear rules and oversight.
"But this is certainly something that we're interested in progressing," he said.
Need for lasting change
It was not specified on Thursday if compensation money should come from FIFA, Qatari authorities or the construction firms who employed the workers, many from south Asia and the Philippines.
Qatari authorities and World Cup organizers were also praised in Strasbourg for passing labour law reforms including a minimum wage.
"It is not just fluff, it's real, and it is delivering some tangible benefits that have actually improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people," Bell said.
"The risk," he acknowledged, "is that once the spotlight is turned off after the World Cup it's really important that these changes remain and are built upon and hopefully even spread wider in the Middle East."
Bell said it was also important for migrant workers to have access to a "safe haven" in Qatar to learn their legal rights — a project backed by the global soccer players' union FIFPRO that Klaveness also highlighted.
