Still slaving away

SO NUMEROUS are the controversies surrounding Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup in 2022 that there is a 3,000-word Wikipedia page dedicated to them. Since it was chosen in 2010, many have wondered how the tiny country with no football culture and a sweltering climate won the right to host the sport’s most prestigious tournament. As the Americans and Swiss probe possible corruption in the bidding process, and with the resignation of Sepp Blatter as president of FIFA, football’s governing body (see article), there is now much talk of taking the World Cup away from Qatar.

The Qataris have dismissed the speculation. They claim already to have been cleared by FIFA and hint at a terrible fallout if the first Middle Eastern host is replaced. So thousands of migrant workers continue to build stadiums. Their treatment, more than any other controversy, should provoke outrage, say human-rights groups. In total the emirate hosts 1.5m migrants who toil under a system that has been compared to slavery. In May 2014 Qatar promised reforms to protect labourers. But over a year later, little has changed.