a competent and proper host. Most importantly, its labor
system will further antagonize it in the eyes of the international community. Here, Qatar’s successful bid, given
the nature of its labor system, alludes to major oversight
on the part of FIFA in its selection process.
Considering the many violations of human and labor
rights that Qatar has made, it is necessary to cogitate
rescinding Qatar’s successful bid to host the 2022 FIFA
World Cup. Dangling the threat of rescission may lead to
two actions: motivating Qatar to change its labor practices,
or forcing FIFA to take the bid away from Qatar.
The labor system is arguably the most contentious
issue in Qatar, and there is no sign of change in its practice. The labor system is known as the kafala system. The
kafala, or sponsorship, system is also present in other Arab
countries, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman
and the UAE, but none of these other nations are as strict
in their implementation of the kafala as Qatar.
Qatar has the highest proportion of migrant to native
population out of all of the countries that use the kafala
system. It also had the highest number of migrants from
Summer 2014 • H A R V A R D I N T E R N A T I O N A L R E V I E W
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R ed C ard
An Excess of Heat, A Lack of Culture
The Kafala System
the
FIFA’s awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup
bids to Russia and Qatar, respectively, was wrapped in
controversy because of opaque bidding procedures. Allegedly, FIFA executives were bribed during the selection
process for the next two World Cups.
Outside officials were given authority to conduct
a thorough ethics investigation on the awarding of the
bids. Outside officials are those who have had no ties to
any financial dealings with soccer in the past four years