Baleforce
Arthur Rowe
yep, thats the thing that bothers me most, fifa's bidding process and moving the tournament to winter i couldn't give a monkeys about
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yep, thats the thing that bothers me most, fifa's bidding process and moving the tournament to winter i couldn't give a monkeys about
K.D.D.D.D.Soc
Ian Walker
Wake up smell the coffee, this is all about the money. FIFA don't care about the game of football or the mugs who attend matches. They are just a dictatorship and apart from the BBC the media just suck up to them.
Baleforce
Arthur Rowe
its just football though, its not a dictatorship, its more like a movie studio, its not political, its just business
braineclipse
Steve Sedgley
Out of curiosity how many countries in the world would qualify to host a major sporting even by your standards?
Since when should this have been implemented in your opinion?
K.D.D.D.D.Soc
Ian Walker
I disagree the GAME in a sport. Just because the media keep saying it's a business does not make it so. Over 1.8m people play football in England (figures SportEngland) and I'm sure the vast majority do not consider themselves taking part in a business transaction. FIFA govern football in the World and our F.A. are a member and cannot make changes to the game within out FIFA approval. FIFA are only interested in the professional part of the sport and making more money from it, and are quite happy to let the corruption go on as long as they are getting their cut.
milo
Jack L. Jones
I understand that this narrows it down a little and that decisions like this are not black and white. My issue is that corrupt regimes use global sporting events as an endorsement, as we are about to see in a few weeks.
Obviously, it cannot be implemented retrospectively.
Jurgen the German
Erik Thorstvedt
Well that's opened up a whole other can of worms. Some people thought the IOC shouldn't have awarded the Olympics to China in 2008, Russia are a backwards nation living in the past re their attitude about gay people.
braineclipse
Steve Sedgley
A little? I ask again, how many countries would you say? A rough estimate would be fine.
It obviously can't be implemented retrospectively, but at what point in time do you think this should have been implemented?
FIFA represents all the member nations, they don't represent us in "the west" specifically. I'm not sure how they can be asked to come to conclusions on ethical questions like these and represent one side of that argument.
I would much rather see that when massive international sporting events like the World Cup or the Olympics is hosted by a country with questionable attitudes towards human rights that the opportunity is taken by the international community to put pressure on those countries. Highlight what is wrong, perhaps have some athletes speak out. Spread the message of human rights and equality, don't further insulate these countries from the rest of the world.
milo
Jack L. Jones
Damn you for making me think about this rather than letting me get away with an off the cuff and ill thought out comment #-o
The truth is that it being held in a country where the stadia are being built by slave labour and active homosexuality is illegal does not feel right to me.
I don't particularly like the idea of FIFA judging nations' humanitarian records either and obviously we do not want to limit hosting World Cups to western nations. For want of a better barometer how about nations that have ratified the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights? It is not perfect but it would be a decent benchmark.
Like I said, this standard cannot be applied retrospectively and I do not see sense in changing decisions that have already been made, so I would be content if it started with the next bidding round that is run. This is obviously pie in the sky stuff though and FIFA don't give a **** as long as they can hoover up as much money as possible.
braineclipse
Steve Sedgley
Sorry for taking your postings seriously and being an all round dingdonghead
Quote from Wiki: "Following the Wolfenden report, sexual acts between two adult males, with no other people present, were made legal in England and Wales in 1967, in Scotland in 1980, Northern Ireland in 1982, UK Crown Dependencies Guernsey in 1983, Jersey in 1990 and Isle of Man in 1992." (Norway was no better)
Can we now, so shortly after this sit on our high horses and say that those countries that lag behind us by perhaps no more than a generation shouldn't be allowed to host a specific sporting event?
I agree with you, it doesn't feel right, but does that mean it should be controlled by regulations? I'm not so sure.
milo
Jack L. Jones
Sorry for taking your postings seriously and being an all round dingdonghead
Quote from Wiki: "Following the Wolfenden report, sexual acts between two adult males, with no other people present, were made legal in England and Wales in 1967, in Scotland in 1980, Northern Ireland in 1982, UK Crown Dependencies Guernsey in 1983, Jersey in 1990 and Isle of Man in 1992." (Norway was no better)
Can we now, so shortly after this sit on our high horses and say that those countries that lag behind us by perhaps no more than a generation shouldn't be allowed to host a specific sporting event?
I agree with you, it doesn't feel right, but does that mean it should be controlled by regulations? I'm not so sure.
I think that the bigger issue is slavery which is why I suggested the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights as a benchmark.
I feel uncomfortable with a country hosting a world sporting event where many fans would not be able to enjoy attending it because of discrimination but I recognise that I am doing that from a position of privilege. I will probably just have a bit of a sulk about the whole thing much like I will throughout the coming Winter Olympics.
braineclipse
Steve Sedgley
Having it in a country like Qatar isn't really spreading football to the people, but all about a select few with more money than the rest.
jamonserrano
John Scales
Qatar World Cup: 185 Nepalese died in 2013 – official records
Death toll in 2013 likely to rise as new cases revealed, sparking fresh wave of concern over treatment of migrant workers
The extent of the risks faced by migrant construction workers building the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been laid bare by official documents revealing that 185 Nepalese men died last year alone.
The 2013 death toll, which is expected to rise as new cases come to light, is likely to spark fresh concern over the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar and increase the pressure on Fifa to force meaningful change. According to the documents the total number of verified deaths among workers from Nepal – just one of several countries that supply hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to the gas-rich state – is now at least 382 in two years alone. At least 36 of those deaths were registered in the weeks following the global outcry after the Guardian's original revelations in September.
The revelations forced Fifa's president, Sepp Blatter, to promise that football would not turn a blind eye to the issue following a stormy executive committee meeting. Qatar's ministry of labour hired law firm DLA Piper to conduct an urgent review and Hassan al-Thawadi, chief executive of the World Cup organising committee, said the findings would be treated with the utmost seriousness, vowing that the tournament would not be built "on the blood of innocents". The DLA Piper report is expected to be published in the coming weeks.
The Nepalese make up about a sixth of Qatar's 2 million-strong population of migrant workers. Verified figures for the 2013 death rates among those from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and elsewhere have yet to emerge.
The Nepalese organisation working with the families of dead workers to repatriate their bodies and campaign for adequate compensation from the companies that employed them under the kafala sponsorship system said on Friday that Fifa should do more.
The Pravasi Nepali Co-ordination Committee (PNCC), which has cross-checked the figures from official sources in Doha against death certificates and passports, is still receiving new cases on a regular basis. The Guardian has seen evidence of at least a further eight cases, which would take the 2013 total to 193.
The PNCC called on Fifa's sponsors to reconsider their relationship with world football's governing body, which awarded the World Cup to Qatar in December 2010.
"Fifa and the government of Qatar promised the world that they would take action to ensure the safety of workers building the stadiums and infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup. This horrendous roll call of the dead gives the lie to those reassurances," said the PNCC. "These were young or otherwise able-bodied men, with their futures in front of them, families at home and everything to live for. Many have been literally worked to death. Some have met with even more sinister ends. All have been betrayed by Fifa."
The Guardian investigation last year revealed that at least 44 Nepalese workers had died in Qatar between 4 June and 8 August, more than half of them of heart attacks, heart failure or workplace accidents. But the full list of deaths recorded during the year, collated by the Nepalese NGO from official sources and documents in Doha and seen by the Guardian, shows that the actual figure is much higher.
In June, July and August alone 65 deaths were recorded by the PNCC during summer months when temperatures can regularly top 40C. The causes included traffic accidents, blunt injuries and fractures ascribed to falls and suicide. But more than 65 of the deaths in 2013 are ascribed to "sudden cardiac arrests" and more than half to some kind of heart failure. Campaigners believe the cause of death is often officially listed as a cardiac arrest because it covers a "multitude of sins".
Asked last year by the Guardian why so many young Nepalese men died of heart attacks, the Qatari labour ministry said: "This question would be better suited for the relevant health authorities or the government of Nepal."
As long ago as 2011, Fifa said it would work with the International Trade Union Confederation to address labour issues with the Qatari authorities. "We have a responsibility that goes beyond the development of football and the organisation of our competition," Fifa secretary general Jérôme Valcke said in November 2011.
But the ITUC has remained a strident critic of the lack of progress made by Qatari authorities on the issue, while groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have continued to highlight the appalling conditions suffered by some of the workers in a £137bn construction boom.
In November, Amnesty warned in a damning report that workers were enduring 12-hour days in sweltering conditions and living in squalid, overcrowded accommodation. The ITUC has warned that up to 4,000 workers may die before a ball is kicked in 2022 without meaningful reform of the kafala system and stringent control of the myriad construction companies and sub-contractors involved.
After the global outcry that followed the Guardian's coverage, Blatter travelled to meet the Emir of Qatar and declared it was "on the right track" in dealing with the issue. But following a meeting with the ITUC in Zurich a month later, Fifa said that "fair working conditions with a lasting effect must be introduced quickly".
The PNCC, which has painstakingly cross-checked death certificates and other documentation with official records in Doha, said Fifa and the Qatari government needed to move faster: "Fifa president Sepp Blatter said in October there was 'plenty of time' to address this issue. For the labourers dying every week in Qatar to build the infrastructure to host Mr Blatter's World Cup, there is no time left."
Attention is also turning to the role of Fifa's sponsors, with the PNCC joining calls for them to review their relationship with it. Visa and Adidas recently signed new deals until 2022. "Qatar's failure to disclose or explain these deaths, and Fifa's failure to monitor them, are alarming in the extreme. We call upon the World Cup's corporate sponsors – Coca-Cola, Adidas, Visa, Hyundai and Budweiser – urgently to review their arrangements with Fifa," a spokesman said.
Last month the London mayor, Boris Johnson, travelled to Doha to drum up trade for British business. Foreign Office minister Hugh Robertson held talks with the Qataris aimed at boosting trade and said the UK would "offer support" in delivering the 2022 World Cup.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office insisted the issue of migrant workers was also raised. "Mr Robertson discussed the issue of migrant workers with the Qatari authorities during his recent visit," he said."
But the PNCC said that the flow of coffins returning to Kathmandu airport, which continued throughout December, even on Christmas Day, told its own story. "Thanks to the work of the Guardian and other media, this abuse is finally being exposed," said the PNCC spokesman.
"We call upon civilised governments as a matter of the greatest urgency to demand that Qatar takes meaningful action to protect foreign workers on its soil – including reform of the kafala system of labour, which encourages employers to treat their workers as property rather than human beings."
The full list of deaths recorded between January and September 2012, also seen by the Guardian, shows that at least 127 Nepalese nationals died during that period and there are believed to have been at least another 70 fatalities during the final three months of that year.
Qatar is spending huge sums at home and abroad in an attempt to position itself as the diplomatic and business hub of the Middle East and secure its position politically and financially for the years ahead.
Qatari officials insist moves are being made to hold construction companies, and their myriad sub-contractors, to existing labour laws, which they argue are among the strongest in the region.
Qatar's under-secretary to the ministry of labour, Hussain al-Mulla, has said that at least 99% of businesses are complying with the law. The ministry of labour says it is "committed to ensuring that all workers are treated in a fair and just manner".
The Qatar 2022 supreme committee, which is responsible for staging the World Cup and recently began work on its first stadium, pointed to its own workers' charter and said it was "committed to the wellbeing, health, safety, security and dignity of every worker".
"We anticipate 2014 being a big year for the supreme committee in terms of delivery, with up to five stadiums in various stages of construction. With this in mind, and as an evolution of the charter, we have worked hard to develop detailed workers' standards which will be enforced across all Qatar 2022 projects," a Qatar 2022 statement said.
"It has been our commitment and our belief from the first day of our bid to host the Fifa World Cup that we can utilise the power of football to accelerate positive social and human development across our country and our region."
In a statement Fifa said: "Fifa is working towards an urgent solution and as such is continuing to actively engage the dialogue between Qatar and various human rights and labour organisations to ensure that the initiated changes to improve the welfare of migrants workers are progressing with the necessary pace.
"The application of international norms of behaviour is a principle and part of all our activities and expected from any host of our events.
"Fifa firmly believes in the positive power that the Fifa World Cup can have in Qatar as a platform for positive social change, including an improvement of labour rights and conditions for migrant workers."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/24/qatar-2022-world-cup-185-nepalese-workers-died-2013
That's disgusting. It really makes me sick. I was not a big fan of the idea that the big football nations should stay away from this WC but these bastards crossed a line. They gave ****load of money in brown envelopes to FIFA moguls and now they are building the stadiums with slaves from the poorest countries of the planet.
Death toll in 2013 likely to rise as new cases revealed, sparking fresh wave of concern over treatment of migrant workers
The extent of the risks faced by migrant construction workers building the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been laid bare by official documents revealing that 185 Nepalese men died last year alone.
The 2013 death toll, which is expected to rise as new cases come to light, is likely to spark fresh concern over the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar and increase the pressure on Fifa to force meaningful change. According to the documents the total number of verified deaths among workers from Nepal – just one of several countries that supply hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to the gas-rich state – is now at least 382 in two years alone. At least 36 of those deaths were registered in the weeks following the global outcry after the Guardian's original revelations in September.
The revelations forced Fifa's president, Sepp Blatter, to promise that football would not turn a blind eye to the issue following a stormy executive committee meeting. Qatar's ministry of labour hired law firm DLA Piper to conduct an urgent review and Hassan al-Thawadi, chief executive of the World Cup organising committee, said the findings would be treated with the utmost seriousness, vowing that the tournament would not be built "on the blood of innocents". The DLA Piper report is expected to be published in the coming weeks.
The Nepalese make up about a sixth of Qatar's 2 million-strong population of migrant workers. Verified figures for the 2013 death rates among those from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and elsewhere have yet to emerge.
The Nepalese organisation working with the families of dead workers to repatriate their bodies and campaign for adequate compensation from the companies that employed them under the kafala sponsorship system said on Friday that Fifa should do more.
The Pravasi Nepali Co-ordination Committee (PNCC), which has cross-checked the figures from official sources in Doha against death certificates and passports, is still receiving new cases on a regular basis. The Guardian has seen evidence of at least a further eight cases, which would take the 2013 total to 193.
The PNCC called on Fifa's sponsors to reconsider their relationship with world football's governing body, which awarded the World Cup to Qatar in December 2010.
"Fifa and the government of Qatar promised the world that they would take action to ensure the safety of workers building the stadiums and infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup. This horrendous roll call of the dead gives the lie to those reassurances," said the PNCC. "These were young or otherwise able-bodied men, with their futures in front of them, families at home and everything to live for. Many have been literally worked to death. Some have met with even more sinister ends. All have been betrayed by Fifa."
The Guardian investigation last year revealed that at least 44 Nepalese workers had died in Qatar between 4 June and 8 August, more than half of them of heart attacks, heart failure or workplace accidents. But the full list of deaths recorded during the year, collated by the Nepalese NGO from official sources and documents in Doha and seen by the Guardian, shows that the actual figure is much higher.
In June, July and August alone 65 deaths were recorded by the PNCC during summer months when temperatures can regularly top 40C. The causes included traffic accidents, blunt injuries and fractures ascribed to falls and suicide. But more than 65 of the deaths in 2013 are ascribed to "sudden cardiac arrests" and more than half to some kind of heart failure. Campaigners believe the cause of death is often officially listed as a cardiac arrest because it covers a "multitude of sins".
Asked last year by the Guardian why so many young Nepalese men died of heart attacks, the Qatari labour ministry said: "This question would be better suited for the relevant health authorities or the government of Nepal."
As long ago as 2011, Fifa said it would work with the International Trade Union Confederation to address labour issues with the Qatari authorities. "We have a responsibility that goes beyond the development of football and the organisation of our competition," Fifa secretary general Jérôme Valcke said in November 2011.
But the ITUC has remained a strident critic of the lack of progress made by Qatari authorities on the issue, while groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have continued to highlight the appalling conditions suffered by some of the workers in a £137bn construction boom.
In November, Amnesty warned in a damning report that workers were enduring 12-hour days in sweltering conditions and living in squalid, overcrowded accommodation. The ITUC has warned that up to 4,000 workers may die before a ball is kicked in 2022 without meaningful reform of the kafala system and stringent control of the myriad construction companies and sub-contractors involved.
After the global outcry that followed the Guardian's coverage, Blatter travelled to meet the Emir of Qatar and declared it was "on the right track" in dealing with the issue. But following a meeting with the ITUC in Zurich a month later, Fifa said that "fair working conditions with a lasting effect must be introduced quickly".
The PNCC, which has painstakingly cross-checked death certificates and other documentation with official records in Doha, said Fifa and the Qatari government needed to move faster: "Fifa president Sepp Blatter said in October there was 'plenty of time' to address this issue. For the labourers dying every week in Qatar to build the infrastructure to host Mr Blatter's World Cup, there is no time left."
Attention is also turning to the role of Fifa's sponsors, with the PNCC joining calls for them to review their relationship with it. Visa and Adidas recently signed new deals until 2022. "Qatar's failure to disclose or explain these deaths, and Fifa's failure to monitor them, are alarming in the extreme. We call upon the World Cup's corporate sponsors – Coca-Cola, Adidas, Visa, Hyundai and Budweiser – urgently to review their arrangements with Fifa," a spokesman said.
Last month the London mayor, Boris Johnson, travelled to Doha to drum up trade for British business. Foreign Office minister Hugh Robertson held talks with the Qataris aimed at boosting trade and said the UK would "offer support" in delivering the 2022 World Cup.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office insisted the issue of migrant workers was also raised. "Mr Robertson discussed the issue of migrant workers with the Qatari authorities during his recent visit," he said."
But the PNCC said that the flow of coffins returning to Kathmandu airport, which continued throughout December, even on Christmas Day, told its own story. "Thanks to the work of the Guardian and other media, this abuse is finally being exposed," said the PNCC spokesman.
"We call upon civilised governments as a matter of the greatest urgency to demand that Qatar takes meaningful action to protect foreign workers on its soil – including reform of the kafala system of labour, which encourages employers to treat their workers as property rather than human beings."
The full list of deaths recorded between January and September 2012, also seen by the Guardian, shows that at least 127 Nepalese nationals died during that period and there are believed to have been at least another 70 fatalities during the final three months of that year.
Qatar is spending huge sums at home and abroad in an attempt to position itself as the diplomatic and business hub of the Middle East and secure its position politically and financially for the years ahead.
Qatari officials insist moves are being made to hold construction companies, and their myriad sub-contractors, to existing labour laws, which they argue are among the strongest in the region.
Qatar's under-secretary to the ministry of labour, Hussain al-Mulla, has said that at least 99% of businesses are complying with the law. The ministry of labour says it is "committed to ensuring that all workers are treated in a fair and just manner".
The Qatar 2022 supreme committee, which is responsible for staging the World Cup and recently began work on its first stadium, pointed to its own workers' charter and said it was "committed to the wellbeing, health, safety, security and dignity of every worker".
"We anticipate 2014 being a big year for the supreme committee in terms of delivery, with up to five stadiums in various stages of construction. With this in mind, and as an evolution of the charter, we have worked hard to develop detailed workers' standards which will be enforced across all Qatar 2022 projects," a Qatar 2022 statement said.
"It has been our commitment and our belief from the first day of our bid to host the Fifa World Cup that we can utilise the power of football to accelerate positive social and human development across our country and our region."
In a statement Fifa said: "Fifa is working towards an urgent solution and as such is continuing to actively engage the dialogue between Qatar and various human rights and labour organisations to ensure that the initiated changes to improve the welfare of migrants workers are progressing with the necessary pace.
"The application of international norms of behaviour is a principle and part of all our activities and expected from any host of our events.
"Fifa firmly believes in the positive power that the Fifa World Cup can have in Qatar as a platform for positive social change, including an improvement of labour rights and conditions for migrant workers."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/24/qatar-2022-world-cup-185-nepalese-workers-died-2013
That's disgusting. It really makes me sick. I was not a big fan of the idea that the big football nations should stay away from this WC but these bastards crossed a line. They gave ****load of money in brown envelopes to FIFA moguls and now they are building the stadiums with slaves from the poorest countries of the planet.
paxtonwolf
Tony Marchi
Agree with jamonserrano, the big guns should stay away. It would never happen, but how about they get together and organise a rival tournament
markysimmo
Johnny nice-tits
This just in: North Korea has landed a man on the Sun. 17-year-old Hung Il Gong started his journey at 3am this morning, travelling alone, to reach our nearest star, a journey that took him just 4 hours
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/35032...man-on-the-sun/index.html#gH1bX9gmG51oyl8Y.99
paxtonwolf
Tony Marchi
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Jurgen the German
Erik Thorstvedt
Or better yet, a rival organisation opposed to FIFA that isn't governed by corrupt, geriatric bigots?
braineclipse
Steve Sedgley
News: Massive sporting event sheds light on inhumane treatment of people in the host country.
Reaction: Massive sporting event should not have been awarded to that country.
Nope, still doesn't make sense. Had the World Cup not been awarded to Qatar this treatment of migrant workers would still be going on, only fewer people would know about it.
Reaction: Massive sporting event should not have been awarded to that country.
Nope, still doesn't make sense. Had the World Cup not been awarded to Qatar this treatment of migrant workers would still be going on, only fewer people would know about it.