Beyond the game – Just one day after the great world soccer meeting took place, Qatar prohibited the sale of alcohol in “the perimeter of the stadiums” after an alleged agreement between the Qatari authorities and FIFA.

Now the beer jars and cans can only be found in the “Fan Fest” area and in authorized places for the sale of alcohol.

Qatar is a country in the Middle East where alcohol consumption is prohibited according to the official religion: Islam. You cannot consume alcoholic beverages in public places, you cannot cause discomfort to another person while under the influence of alcohol, nor can you transport this type of beverage on public roads, nor import them.

However, there are some exceptions. Only foreign residents with one type of permit can get drinks for domestic consumption, and where do they get it? In the only liquor store in the country or in some international hotels, restaurants and clubs and its price is high.

Buyers must have with them when buying a letter of authorization from the company in which they work and from there they can buy a beer, but only one according to their salary.

In Qatar, a beer can cost more than $12, a punishment can lead to a sentence of at least 6 months and a fine exceeds $800.

This is not the only ban that characterizes the country in the midst of the Soccer World Cup.

Qatar also rejects public displays of affection because “they are frowned upon” and “that applies to everyone” because the country is “modest” and “must be respected” according to Nasser al Khater, the president of the tournament’s organizing committee.

Let us also remember that one of the first controversies that became known was that during the World Cup, sexual relations between people who are not married would be prohibited. In case of failure to comply with this rule, the sentence reaches about 7 years.

Photographing a Muslim woman is considered offensive, and photos of government buildings are prohibited.

Clothing has been another concern

In a country where women must wear a headscarf known as an abaya, officials expect World Cup visitors to conceal their shoulders and knees when in museums or government buildings.

Those who do not comply with this rule will not be imprisoned, however, it is part of the recommendations of the organizing committee.

Knowing this, it is inevitable to wonder why FIFA decided to hold a tournament of this magnitude in a country like Qatar where there will now be a major culture shock.

There is talk of cases of corruption related to the choice of Qatar as the venue for the 2022 World Cup, but regardless of that, the debate has been opened on how FIFA, whose founding countries belong to the continent with the greatest freedoms or is considered one of the most open on certain issues, gave his go-ahead to hold the World Cup in Qatar.

France, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands (Netherlands), Spain, and Switzerland are the founding countries of this body and Switzerland, for example, where the current FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, was born, is a country where abortion is allowed for 20 years and is where the headquarters of the UN Human Rights Council is located.

By way of comparison, the Netherlands is the only country in the European Union where the sale of marijuana is legally allowed in some licensed premises, and it was the first country to legalize equal marriage and Europe is the continent where the most laws have been legislated in favor of it. of these unions. In France, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and Switzerland, same-sex marriage is also legal.

At this point, it is not a question of allowing excesses, but of the fact that for this type of event, in addition to the logical competition, the people who enjoy a soccer World Cup celebrate a cultural exchange between nations.

Beyond the alleged cases of corruption and Qatar’s promise to comply with hospitality agreements, it is feared that the word of the authorities of the Arab country is not a true endorsement of agreements established with FIFA.

We’ll see what happens after the ball is kicked for the first time.

They are serious matters that undoubtedly call for attention and reflection beyond the game.

Trina Acevedo

Instagram: @trinaacevedo

Photos courtesy: TV Azteca, Mundo Deportivo and Twitter

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Beyond the game – We are a few days and hours away from the start of the greatest celebration of world football: the Qatar Cup 2022. Season in which, the media that make up the EL SUMARIO Digital Communication Group, have invited Trina Acevedo, an outstanding Venezuelan journalist and communicator, with excellent performance on television and radio, specializing in international news sources, whom we welcome to our digital press portals to accompany users this season, with a series of notes that They will be addressing aspects related to the extra-sports context.

Its deliveries will have a weekly periodicity, unless the development of events imposes shorter and more dynamic frequencies. In this first work, Acevedo summarizes and updates the relevant issue of the migrants who worked on the construction of the Stadiums.

Qatar is a country with less than 3 million inhabitants, of which 2 million come from other countries.

That is why the migrant workforce represents 95% of the workforce in this Middle Eastern country, being the highest proportion of migrant workers in the world, according to the International Labor Organization.

The British media The Guardian estimates that the number of migrants killed during the construction of the stadiums could reach about 6,500, since Qatar was chosen in 2010 as the venue for the 2022 World Cup. But, the official figure from Qatar indicates that there are only 37 workers who died between 2014 and 2020.

Qatar has been criticized for the treatment of migrant employees who came to the country to carry out works for the World Cup under very harsh working conditions. It has been denounced that the migrants had to work under extreme heat for very long hours, with low wages and in overcrowding.

By 2016, Amnesty International accused the Qatari monarchy of using forced labor. The organization criticized that migrants had to pay to be hired and once in the country their passports were confiscated, and they were not paid on time.

More recently, in 2021, Human Rights Watch indicated that migrant workers faced “illegal and punitive wage deductions” and “months of unpaid wages after long hours of backbreaking work.”

To this is added the indication of the International Labor Organization that ensures that Qatar does not take into account sudden and unexpected deaths. Heart attacks and respiratory insufficiencies caused by heat stroke are recorded as deaths from “natural causes” and “non-work related.”

The ILO says that in 2021 alone, 50 workers died and insists there are gaps in Qatar’s data collection.

Nasser al Khatel, executive head of the committee that organizes the World Cup, assures that they only have records of 3 fatalities related to work in the stadiums and added that there are another 30 deaths not linked to the works.

Qatar’s Ministry of Labor released a statement stating that “the figures reported in the media on the deaths of migrant workers have been grossly misleading.”

Qatar is proud to offer a minimum wage of $275 a month to migrant workers, saying it is the first time an Arab country has passed a minimum wage in the Middle East.

This happened after Qatar eliminated the controversial Kafala sponsorship system, where workers were made to pay a high recruitment fee. This causes debts to migrants even before leaving their countries, assuming as a risk that, in case of losing their life, they leave their family compromised, in trouble and to their fate.

Recruiters could cancel visas or report quitters for “absconding” which is a criminal offence. In short, they couldn’t quit, much less create a union.

Although this system was dismantled, it is believed that it functions informally.

And at more than a dozen World Cup hotels, workers faced sexual harassment, discrimination, wage theft and health and safety risks, according to Equidem, a London-based labor rights group.

It is feared that this matter will cease to be important when the soccer World Cup is over, an issue that extends in the Middle East and that is not only registered in Qatar.

Among the 6,500 migrants who died in Qatar, according to The Guardian, were workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

A serious matter that undoubtedly calls for attention and reflection beyond the game.

Trina Acevedo

Instagram: @trinaacevedo

Photos courtesy: AP and Amnesty International

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