Northern Ireland/Qatar: Irish FA to back human rights calls ahead of World Cup

Irish Football Association agrees to support Amnesty calls for migrant worker compensation scheme and investigations into deaths

Commitments from IFA President and Chief Executive follow ‘positive’ meeting with Amnesty today

‘The Irish Football Association is on the right side of history in taking this important stand for human rights in Qatar’ - Patrick Corrigan

The Irish Football Association (IFA) has agreed to back calls for a compensation scheme for exploited migrant workers in Qatar, the establishment of a migrant workers centre in Qatar and for investigations into thousands of worker deaths in the run-up to the World Cup.

The IFA President and Chief Executive will raise the issues in a meeting with senior FIFA officials when they travel to Qatar as part of an IFA delegation for the opening ceremony of the World Cup next weekend.

The commitment came at a meeting today (Friday) between the IFA and Amnesty International, when association President, Conrad Kirkwood, and Chief Executive, Patrick Nelson, signalled their support and committed to pursue the matter with senior FIFA officials gathered in Qatar.

Amnesty, trade unions and fan groups have called for FIFA to earmark at least $440m - the same as it intends to hand out in World Cup prize money - to provide remedy for the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who have suffered human rights abuses in Qatar during preparations for the 2022 World Cup.

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Programme Director, said:

“The Irish Football Association is on the right side of history in taking this important stand for human rights in Qatar.

“We had a very positive meeting with an IFA delegation led by its president and chief executive.

“The IFA has committed to support our three key calls: a compensation scheme for exploited migrant workers in Qatar, the establishment of a migrant workers centre in Doha and for official investigations into thousands of worker deaths in the run-up to the World Cup.

“Qatar has an atrocious human rights record, including laws which discriminate against women and LGBTQ+ people, and years of horrendous exploitation of migrant workers as they toiled to build the stadiums and infrastructure for this World Cup.

“We want to thank the Irish FA for agreeing to speak up for migrant workers who’ve been so badly exploited in the run-up to the Qatar World Cup.

“In our meeting, it was clear that the IFA had studied in detail our research on the abuse and deaths of migrant workers linked to the building of World Cup infrastructure, and were clear in their support for a worker compensation scheme funded by FIFA and the Qatari authorities and other measures.

“Having awarded Qatar the right to host the World Cup without making human rights improvements a key condition, FIFA must take now responsibility in addressing abuses committed in connection with the tournament.”