Dutch sponsors boycott Qatar World Cup over human rights violations

Due to human rights concerns in Qatar and numerous international reports warning in this regard, many Dutch national team sponsors have announced they will not participate in the World Cup in Doha later this year.

A spokesperson for the Dutch national team’s main sponsor, said that the report published by The Telegraph on the human rights situation is the reason that we have no role in this tournament.

The Telegraph also reported that a telecom company and food chain will not get their share of the tournament tickets by sponsoring the Netherlands.

Human rights in Qatar are being violated on a massive scale, especially against migrant workers working in World Cup facilities, with a report issued by Amnesty International last November warning that migrant workers in Qatar continue to be exploited on a massive scale, with only months to go until the next World Cup.

In a statement published by the BBC, Amnesty International accused Doha of failing to keep its promises on improving workers’ rights.

In 2013, 44 Nepalese workers died in Qatar within two months, a year later it was revealed that some workers were paid 45 pence per hour, and Amnesty International said that 6,500 migrant workers had died since 2011. Apart from the construction program, concerns were raised about Qatar’s broader human rights record and treatment of the LGBT community.

In 2016, Amnesty International accused Qatar of using forced labor, saying many workers lived in squalid housing, paid huge recruitment fees and suffered from withheld wages and confiscation of passports.

Qatar has also been accused of forcing foreign workers (forced labor) to work on a stadium for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be hosted by Qatar.

Workers are forced to live in squalid places and pay huge recruitment fees, and their employers prevent them from receiving their salaries and confiscate their passports, the international human rights organization said.