I was shocked
myself when I read on CNN Sports about the Kafala system and how it slaves footballers
in Qatar. Truly it beats my imaginations because ordinarily, I felt Qatar is a football
friendly country. It has lavished money on European football so much.
The Qatar foundation
sponsors the shirts of FC Barcelona.
Another Spanish
team, Malaga, reached the quarter finals of this year's UEFA Champions' league largely
because of the huge injection of Qatari funds.
And Qatar Investment
Authority, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, bought Paris Saint
Germaine (PSG), signing some of the game's greatest players. The wages for the likes
of David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have been lavish.
But playing in
Qatar is a different ball game. And Zahir Belounis, the French-Algerian footballer
who signed for first division club, Ei Jadish, became one of the victims of Kafala
system.
Despite he alleges
holding a contract that lasts until 2015. He claim to have been frozen out, threatened,
moved to other clubs against his will, gone unpaid salary for 23 months and barred
from leaving the country - leaving him, his wife and two daughters trapped in Qatar.
The Kafala system
which ties employees to a specific employer has according to Human Rights Watch
and International Trade Union Confederations (ITUC), been open to systematic abuse
and created a de facto form of slavery for more than a million migrant workers living
within its borders.
The Kafala system,
confiscation of Passports, illegal charging of exorbitant agent fees, the inability
of victims to access the courts for redress have made life unbearable for migrant
workers in Qatar.
"Qatar has
an exit Visas system, so you cannot leave the country unless the sponsors say so.
You have a system where players are trapped in the country and grossly abused -
unpaid wages, Wages held in arrears... It keeps workers credibly vulnerable. Migrants
are basically slaves in this country, The legal system doesn't work, contracts are
torn up at a whim..." said Belounis.
One International
labor organization call FIFA to strip Qatar of the 2022 world cup hosting right,
over the treatment of Migrant workers.
Sharan Burrow,
General Secretary of ITUC said, "I am shocked to see this exploitations in
football. A country that doesn't respect human beings does not have the right to
orgqanize the best competition in the world.
Nicholas Megeehan
of human rights watch said, "Qatar has been quite successful at growing off
a progressive image when, in fact, the labor system is so exploitative."
"Its royal
family, led by Emir Hammed bin Khalifa Al Than, is one of the richest in the world.
Thanks to the discovery and explorations of the largest natural gas field on earth.
The country is always presenting a glowing portrait of itself to the rest of the
world.
And you can't
imagine how FIFA awarded the right to host 2022 World Cup finals to such a tiny
Emirate of less two million people and barely 300, 000 citizens. Found next to Saudi
Arabia and Bahrain.
As you should
expect, the Qatari government has intimated that it is prepared to scrap the Kafala
system of sponsorship. "The sponsorship system will be replaced with a contract
signed by two parties." said Hussain Al Mulla, undersecretary for the ministry
of Labor. Well, while the repeal of the system remain in the pipeline, I advise
footballers to better stay away from Qatar.
