BBC ignores World Cup opening ceremony in favour of Qatar criticism

Human rights violations in Middle Eastern countries is not a new thing

Even though it has the rights, BBC chose to ignore the entire World Cup opening ceremony in favour of a broadcast criticizing Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers, highlighting corruption at Fifa and discussing the ban on homosexuality. Kudos to the Beeb!

There has rightly been a focus on Qatar’s human rights violations - more than 6,500 migrant workers have died since it was awarded the World Cup - but the focus needs to increase and extend to it’s neighbors, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. I hope more organizations follow the BBC’s example.

Human rights violations in Middle Western countries is not a new thing. Racism is also rampant in these countries. I lived in the UAE many years ago. It was one of the reasons I decided to leave that country. Most of these workers dont have that luxury, partly because they need the money to support their families back home and partly because these countries have something called the Kafala system, where your employer takes your passport as a condition of your employment.