2022 World Cup: Qatar struggles to boost image ahead of tourney




The Western sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, noted that Qatar has almost no elected bodies and institutions, with the exception of municipal councils. They  described Doha’s participatory credentials as lacking or weak at best.

They also spoke of Qatar’s lack of commitment to human rights, with its laws and regulations failing to meet standards laid out in international charters and declarations.

These Western countries have put the World Cup under considerable scrutiny by supporting the Qatari bid.

Even before its bid for the World Cup, Qatar had come under fire for failing to enact democratic principles at home while at the same time using its Al Jazeera media network to portray itself as the godfather of democracy and human rights in the Arab world.

In its so-called defence of democracy and human rights, Qatar has been suspected of working to destabilise numerous Arab countries through the “Arab spring” revolts, which catapulted the Muslim Brotherhood and like-minded groups to power in countries like Libya, Egypt, Syria and Yemen.

Qatar, however, was not able to control events in every country, creating a catastrophic situation in Libya and Syria. This forced Doha to pass the torch to its authoritarian ally Turkey, which has also presented itself as a defender of “democracy and human rights” in the region.

By exploiting crises throughout the Arab world, Turkey aimed to gain political and material benefits for itself at the expense of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Arab countries.

Sheikh Tamim, inaugurating a new session of the unelected Shura Council, said on Tuesday, “The Shura Council elections will be held in October 2021 in accordance with the constitution of 2004, which was approved in a referendum held in 2003.”

Since assuming power in 2013, Sheikh Tamim has overseen some cautious cosmetic reforms on issues such as workers’ rights and women’s representation in state institutions in the emirate but even with that Qatar has still been in the headlines for the wrong-reasons.

(Arab Weekly)

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