Can World Cup be vehicle for reform?
As the 2022 FIFA World Cup nears, there is more scrutiny than ever on host country Qatar.
When the games were first announced in 2010, the country had a rigid labour structure, known as the “kafala” system. Under these rules there was little ability for workers to transition between employers, and no minimum wage in some industries. With all eyes on Qatar, the small but prosperous nation has made major reforms to its laws and regulations to improve the human rights and living conditions of migrant workers.
Over the last decade, Qatar has adopted regulations to bring the country in line with the International Labour Organization (ILO), FIFA and other international regulatory standards. Some of these new changes include a Workers’ Support and Insurance Fund, and more importantly, the introduction of laws that mean most workers no longer need exit permits to leave the country. They can also change employment freely without needing permission to do so from their previous employer, as was required under the kafala system.
“I am pleased to see the strong commitment from the Qatari authorities to ensure the reforms are fully implemented across the labour market, leaving a lasting legacy of the FIFA World Cup long after the event and benefiting migrant workers in the host country in the long term,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in a statement this March, after meeting with Qatar’s Labour Minister Ali bin Samikh Al Marri.
FIFA’s praise is important, but is closely linked to the World Cup and will not last past that. More crucial still is the ongoing technical co-operation between Qatar and the ILO.
“Working with the ILO, (Qatar) introduced laws in line with international best practices. The next step has been to ensure that changes are fully implemented by shifting the deeply ingrained cultural attitudes of employers,” the labour minister wrote in a December 2021 letter to the Financial Times.
A recent ILO report confirmed that the minimum monthly basic wage is now applying to all workers, regardless of their nationality and occupation, including domestic workers. In addition to a minimum wage, workers are owed decent accommodation and food or monthly allowances. As a result, over 280,000 workers (approximately 13 per cent of the total workforce) saw a pay increase in 2021.
These reforms are important to the unseen millions who will work in Qatar’s construction and hospitality sector in the years to come. World and civil society leaders must be vigilant, but by all appearances, Qatar seems keen to maintain these reforms, pledging to include them in its national vision 2030 program. This is important, as Qatar will also host the 2030 Asia Games and is a contender to host a future Olympic Games.
Though passion for the game is unmatched in my native Italy, what’s at stake is something much larger than football: the role of sport as a driver of human rights improvements. This idea was perhaps on FIFA’s mind when Qatar was announced as the host in 2010. It might have limited applicability, but it’s a success story on an issue in which such wins come few and far between.
The reforms seen in Qatar seem to vindicate the idea of sport for change. This was also an underlying idea for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will link Canada and the United States with Mexico, where some games will be played. Here the vision is not improving human rights, but rather a more integrated North America. In this way, huge sporting events can be an impetus for change that matters, long after the last football is kicked.