Gianni Infantino continues to insist that only three people were killed building stadiums in Qatar. The FIFA president – just like last January – does not want to claim that the actual death toll is about 6,500. Infantino suggested at a conference in Los Angeles that “other work” could have accounted for that number, while avoiding questions about working conditions in Qatar.
Amnesty International made in early 2021 the Guardian known that 6500 guest workers had already died in Qatar by then. National coach Louis van Gaal, among others, already spoke out about the ‘ridiculous decision’ to organize the World Cup in the Arab country. When Infantino was asked at a Milken Institute conference in Los Angeles whether FIFA would use the profits to help families of deceased workers, Infantino reacted shadowy.
“Let’s get one thing straight,” Infantino said. “When we talk about this work – hard, hard work – we give dignity and pride to those who do it. It’s not charity work. You’re not going to give someone something and say, ‘Stay where you are. I feel good.” Infantino added that it “makes FIFA proud to change the working conditions of one and a half million people.
Ronald de Boer under fire after a striking performance at Jinek about Qatar
Ronald de Boer, ambassador of the World Cup in Qatar, also came under fire in mid-April for adding to the death toll of 6,500. Jinek called ‘taken out of context’.
When asked directly about the death toll in the construction of the stadiums, Infantino insisted that only three people had died. The Swiss thus remains in line with the statement he made last January at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. “It may be that six thousand people have died in other activities,” Infantino speculated, “but FIFA is not the police of the world or responsible for everything that happens. But thanks to FIFA, thanks to football, we have the situations of one and a half million workers.
Infantino acknowledged that the workers’ situation in Qatar before 2018 resembled a “modern slavery system.” Since then, several new laws have been introduced to host the World Cup. For example, during the hottest hours of the day it is no longer allowed to work in the sun, a general minimum wage has been introduced and it is forbidden for employers to take passports from employees and guest workers, so that they can no longer leave the country. The payment of wages is also being monitored more closely and the Qatari government is encouraging the establishment of employee participation councils.