Saturday, December 2, 2017

Qatar Crisis Leads to Trouble in Sports


James M. Dorsey, fairobserver.com

image from article

The FIFA World Cup is not the only problem when it comes to the Qatar crisis.


Excerpt:
Qatar deserves credit for reforms being introduced to its controversial kafala or labor sponsorship system, which is likely to become a model for the region. In doing so, it cemented the 2022 FIFA World Cup as one of the few mega-events with a real potential of leaving a legacy of change. Qatar started laying the foundations for that change by becoming the first and only Gulf state to engage with its critics: international human rights groups and trade unions.

The problem is that by the time this engagement produced real results, the reputational damage had already been done. Qatar is realizing that reputations are easy to tarnish and difficult to polish. There is little doubt that the World Cup was not the only driver in labor reform — one critic’s major bone of contention. So too was the International Labor Organization (ILO), which was about to censor Qatar.

There is no doubt that Qatar has learned from its mistakes in the public diplomacy and relations aspects of the labor issue. That is evident in Doha’s markedly different handling of the Qatar crisis. It is a far cry from the ostrich that puts its head in the sand, hoping that the storm will pass — only to find that by the time it rears its head, the wound has festered and it has lost strategic advantage.

INTEGRITY OF QATAR 2022

That leaves Qatar with the integrity of its bid which, in terms of public diplomacy, may be the toughest nut to crack. On the principle of where there is smoke, there is fire, Qatar is in a bind. Nonetheless, some greater degree of transparency, including regarding relationships with Mohammed bin Hammam, the disgraced FIFA executive committee member and head of the AFC at the time of the Qatari bid, would have been helpful. ...

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