Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s statement about Qatar created reactions in the football world.
Now he is being hounded by Amnesty.
– It is important that he understands the seriousness, says a project manager within the human rights organisation.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back in the Swedish national team from his long-term knee injury, and it didn’t take long before the headlines surrounding the star started pouring in. During Tuesday, Ibrahimovic participated in a press conference, and much of the talk, as well as the reactions afterwards, came to be about Qatar. Qatar hosted this winter’s World Cup, but the championship was marred by scandalous headlines, about the lack of human rights, and about the poor working conditions of migrant workers, which many times even led to deaths.
The tribute to Qatar
Ibrahimovic was in attendance for the World Cup final between Argentina and France, and when asked on Tuesday how he viewed the championship, the tributes poured in.
– Fantastic. It was as cruel as anything, he said.
– My family and I were there for two days. The organization, ten points. The experience, ten points. The match, ten points. The audience, ten points. The food ten points. The trip, ten points. Everything was ten points.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic also said that he does not know the conditions for migrant workers. After the statements, a lot of criticism has been directed at Ibrahimovic. Now he is also seen by the human rights organization Amnesty.
– You must have been living under a rock if you don’t know how the migrant workers were systematically discriminated against, says project manager Frank Conde Tangberg to NRK.
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Great criticism
Tangberg reacts particularly strongly to Ibrahimovic saying that the organization was 10 points.
– We have revealed and reported that neither Qatar nor Fifa took human rights into account in connection with the World Cup. The championship would not have been possible without a huge amount of migrant workers who built infrastructure, transport, security and service work, he says.
He continues:
– These people have had their salary postponed, they have not been able to organize themselves into a union, and many have lost their lives without us knowing the cause, as the deaths have not been able to be investigated. Many migrant workers struggle with debts, unpaid wages and occupational injuries. An unknown number of people have died. This is not a World Cup that I would have given ten points for organization, to put it mildly.
Tangberg also believes that there is no possibility that Ibrahimovic missed how badly off the migrant workers were.
– I think it is important that he understands the seriousness, even if the organization around the matches, security and transport went well. It did so because of the workforce.
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