December 9 – Gibraltar FA president and chairman of FIFA’s subcommittee for human rights and social responsibility Michael Llamas has called FIFA’s decision to ignore the Qatar report ‘disappointing”, but denies that the work of his committee has been undermined.
In an interview with Gibraltar TV, Llamas (pictured) reflected on the dramatic publication of the Qatar report that recommended compensation to migrant workers who helped build the infrastructure.
For the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. “It hasn’t undermined the work of the committee completely but what is clear is that compensation was one of the outcomes that people and civil society were looking and waiting for,” said Llamas. “That hasn’t materialised.”
He said that the $50 million legacy fund for the 2022 World Cup that FIFA announced before publishing the Qatar report under cover of darkness is forward-looking. “It has to be put in context what FIFA has done,” explained Llamas.
“The idea of a legacy fund was created since the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The Qatar legacy fund is truly groundbreaking in the sense that FIFA has abandoned the host country and the football-only objectives. It is devoting the legacy to social policy issues which are vitally important. This has to be welcomed. I don’t know any sports association that has given so many funds to social policies around the globe which has nothing to do with the sport they manage.”
Llamas added that FIFA didn’t simply brush the matter aside and was adamant that the subcommittee will keep playing its role.
On Wednesday, FIFA will award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia, a country that also applies the infamous kafala system.
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