The English Football Association insists that any injury or death caused to migrant workers preparing for the World Cup in Qatar must be compensated, after a new Amnesty International survey found that 70 per cent of fans want the governing body to speak out about human rights issues associated with the tournament.
The human rights campaigners polled more than 17,000 people across 15 countries and discovered, in results published on Thursday, that the majority wanted Fifa to compensate migrant workers abused in the process of building and preparing Qatar to host international football’s marquee tournament.
Gareth Southgate and his squad are due to fly to the Gulf state in around two months’ time but the English FA has been criticised for not taking a firm stance on the issues.
The survey, conducted by YouGov, was completed by more than 2,000 people in the UK and 70 per cent said that the English and Welsh FAs should speak out about the abuses of migrant workers. Almost three-quarters supported the idea of a remediation programme.
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“This poll shows that people in the UK want to see the suffering of Qatar’s migrant World Cup workers properly addressed, not pushed aside by the glitz and excitement of the tournament itself,” Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, said.
“The British public – fans and non-fans alike – want justice for abused World Cup workers, and they want to see the English and Welsh FAs showing they genuinely care about human rights by publicly backing a Fifa-funded workers’ remediation programme.
“Fifa should have insisted on human rights clauses when it originally assessed Qatar’s hosting bid – now it needs to make amends.
“Whoever wins the World Cup, we need to see proper recognition of the abuses so many workers experienced in the long and troubled lead-up to Qatar 2022.”
The FA declined to comment on the survey results when contacted by i, but sources maintained that the governing body is behind proposals for any injury or death to be compensated and that a public update would be made in due course. i was told the FA is also supporting the creation of a Migrant Workers Centre in Qatar that would remain as a lasting legacy after the tournament concludes.
The governing body believes working collectively with other countries rather than individually will have a stronger impact and FA chief executive Mark Bullingham is part of the Uefa Working Group who has put proposals for a remediation scheme and a Migrant Workers Centre to Fifa.
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They are awaiting a response from Fifa and the Qatar Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the organisation in charge of running the World Cup.
Amnesty has previously said the FA is “completely lacking in courage” by failing to speak out, but England manager Southgate has insisted that work is going on behind-the-scenes, including sessions to educate England players and staff on the issues and discussions between captains of different countries on what action to take.
The findings of the UK survey paralleled that of the rest of the countries polled — in total 73 per cent backed calls for a Fifa remediation program for abused workers, while 67 per cent believed their FA should take a firmer stance on humans rights abuses.
“These findings send a clear message to football’s leadership,” Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s head of economic and social justice, said. “Across the globe, people are united in their desire to see Fifa step up and make amends for the suffering endured by migrant workers in Qatar. They also want to see their national associations take a much firmer stance.
“With less than 50 days until kick-off, the clock is ticking. But there is still time for Fifa to do the right thing.
“Supporters don’t want a World Cup that’s indelibly tainted by human rights abuses.
“The past cannot be undone, but a compensation programme is a clear and simple way that FIFA and Qatar can provide at least some measure of redress to the hundreds of thousands of workers who made this tournament possible.”
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