Soccer World Cup 2022 – Human rights action in Berlin (May 19)

Soccer World Cup 2022 – Human rights action in Berlin: 

"The world as a guest with Islamists": Human rights activists have serious accusations against Qatar

Thursday (May 19, 2022) starting at 11 am 

opposite the embassy of Qatar, Hagenstraße 56 in 14193 Berlin

This Thursday – May 19, six months before the beginning of the Soccer World Cup – the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) will hold a vigil opposite the embassy of Qatar, as a form of protests against the aggressive foreign policy of the desert state, which is especially detrimental to members of ethnic and religious minorities. We would like to cordially invite you and your colleagues from the photo editors' departments to report on our human rights action. 

"We don't want to let Qatar take the opportunity to polish up its image and to distract from its problematic role as a financier of Islamist groups," stated Tabea Giesecke, STP expert on ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities. "The public must be aware of the fact that the World Cup will be hosted by Islamists!" According to the STP, Qatar is involved in several conflicts in the Near and Middle East – and it is said to be using the international Muslim Brotherhood (the leaders of which are located in Qatar) to finance dangerous Islamist organizations such as Al Qaeda. These Islamists groups are killing, persecuting, and harassing members of various ethnic and religious minorities such as the Kurds, Christians, Yazidis, Alevis, Mandaeans, and Bahai in the countries of the Middle East, members of the Hazara in Afghanistan, and people of other faith in many other states.

According to Kamal Sido, the STP's Middle East Consultant, the rights of women are severely restricted in Qatar, as they are forced to live under a de facto male guardianship. Further, LGBTQ persons are suffering from aggressive persecution and oppression. One of the wealthiest states on earth is building a paradisiacal setting for the World Cup on the backs of slave workers, most of whom are from Asian countries. So far, around 10,000 people are said to have died on constructions sites in Qatar.

Contact

Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP's Middle East Consultant: E-mail k.sido@gfbv.de (Kamal Sido recently returned from a research visit to Qatar)

Tabea Giesecke, STP expert on ethnic and religious minorities: Phone: +49 551 4990619, e-mail t.giesecke@gfbv.de