Celebrations as World Cup Winners Argentina Return Home – BBC News

Dec 20, 2022 | World Cup winners Argentina have been greeted by jubilant crowds at Buenos Aires airport and a bank holiday has been declared in the country. After beating France in Sunday's final, the team landed home in the early hours of Tuesday morning. They travelled on an open-top bus to Argentine Football headquarters. Fans lined the streets en route, with the main celebration taking place at Buenos Aires' Obelisk monument at midday (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday. The Argentine government said Tuesday would be a bank holiday so fans "can express their deepest joy for the national team".

Gay Qatari Man Won’t Let World Cup ‘Bury’ LGBTQ+ Atrocities ‘in the Shadows’

Dr Nas Mohamed says there is a “clear lack of transparency and visibility to the true extent” of the persecution of LGBTQ+ people in Qatar. (Dr Nas Mohamed)
PINK NEWS: A gay Qatari man who helped shine a light on the persecution of LGBTQ+ people in the Gulf nation is determined that the World Cup won’t succeed in “sports washing”.

Dr Nas Mohamed made headlines in May when he became the first known Qatari to come out on a public platform.

Homosexuality is illegal in the Gulf state. Same-sex relationships are criminalised and carry a punishment of several years in jail or fines. In some cases, under Qatar’s Sharia law, queer people can face death for living as their authentic self.

Since then, Mohamed (who currently lives in San Francisco, California) has used his platform to speak out against the criminalisation of queer people in Qatar and calls on celebrities to champion LGBTQ+ rights ahead of the World Cup, which begins on 20 November.

He’s also worked with Human Rights Watch (HRW), helping them to compile a damning report on how Qatar has arrested, abused and harassed LGBTQ+ people as recently as September 2022. HRW documented beatings and sexual assault by police, and heard from trans women who said they were ordered to attend conversion therapy by officials. » | Maggie Baska | Saturday, November 5, 2022

UK Minister Criticised over Call for Gay World Cup Fans to Show Respect in Qatar

THE GUARDIAN: ames Cleverly says ‘flex and compromise’ needed on both sides in country that criminalises homosexuality

Cleverly said Qatar, which criminalises homosexuality, was willing to ‘make some compromises’.Photograph: Carl Recine/Pool/Getty Images
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has been criticised for telling gay football fans they should show respect to Qatar, which criminalises their sexuality, when attending the World Cup in the emirate.

Cleverly said Qatar was willing to make compromises to allow people it would normally persecute to attend the tournament, which kicks off on 20 November. On Tuesday the prominent British LGBTQ campaigner Peter Tatchell claimed he had been arrested in Qatar for highlighting the country’s stance.

Cleverly said: “I have spoken to the Qatari authorities in the past about gay football fans going to watch the World Cup and how they will treat our fans and international fans. They want to make sure that football fans are safe, secure and enjoy themselves. And they know that that means they are going to have to make some compromises in terms of what is an Islamic country with a very different set of cultural norms to our own.

“One of the things I would say for football fans is, you know, please do be respectful of the host nation. They are trying to ensure that people can be themselves and enjoy the football, and I think with a little bit of flex and compromise at both ends, it can be a safe, secure and exciting World Cup.” » | Kevin Rawlinson | Wednesday, October 26, 2022

LGBTQ+ activist Peter Tatchell says Qatar ‘deflecting from diabolical human rights abuses’: Activist Peter Tatchell said the Qatari government is attempting to “deflect from their diabolical human rights abuses” after officials denied he was arrested for protesting. »

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Migrant Abuse: MEPs Plan Qatar Trip after Damning Resolution

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Amid ongoing criticism over the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar, the European Parliament has announced it will send a delegation to the 2022 World Cup host. On Thursday, MEPs issued a resolution condemning conditions for these workers in the Gulf state, though Doha called the resolution "premature."

The European Parliament is expected to send a delegation to Qatar next spring after passing an emergency resolution condemning the treatment of migrant workers in the Gulf state. The issue has come to a head as major construction work gathers pace ahead of the soccer World Cup in 2022, which the country will host.

In addition to the Qatari government, which has dismissed the resolution as "premature," MEPs are also looking to the world and European governing soccer bodies, FIFA and UEFA, for answers. » | dsk -- with wires | Friday, November 22, 2013

Built on Bones: Qatar World Cup Construction Workers Die Daily

2022 World Cup host Qatar, is mired in scandal. It's under fire following reports of migrant workers on construction projects, being abused. The mistreatment has been compared to slavery, and has led to dozens of deaths.

Related »

Heart-rending! Qatar: The Migrant Workers Forced to Work for No Pay in World Cup Host Country

Qatar, one of the richest countries on the planet, will be hosting the World Cup in 2022. But much of the Gulf state's expansion is being built by some of the poorest migrant workers in the world. In the worst cases, employees are not being paid and work in conditions of forced labour. Each month dozens of young Nepalese migrant workers are returning home in coffins

Watch the Guardian video here
Read the Guardian article, ‘Qatar’s World Cup slaves’ here | Pete Pattisson in Kathmandu and Doha | Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Qatar a 'Slave State' for World Cup Workers, Says Unionist
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Scores of migrant labourers facing 'slavery' conditions will likely die to build Qatar's stadiums for the 2022 World Cup, a prominent trade unionist warned Sunday.

"More labourers will die during construction than the footballers who will step on the pitch," said Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation.

"Qatar is a 21st-century slave state," the 58-year-old told left-wing Avgi daily in an interview.

Burrow, a former president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, said construction workers faced temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) outdoors during the summer months.

Nepal alone had recorded 191 deaths among its nationals in 2010, most of them heart attacks, she said. » | AFP | Monday, February 11, 2013