Human Rights Questions Arise During World Cup

With the FIFA World Cup being in full swing in Qatar, questions about treatment of LQBTQ members, women, and workers have arisen. People and nations all over the world continue to call out, “Football is for everyone.”

Qatar has faced much backlash for its mistreatment of the LQBTQ community in previous years, however with the world’s attention being focused on them, protests against the country's ancient rules have begun circulation. Even here in Palisade students have cried out for change, with Ian Allen, a Junior at PHS stating, “It’s an issue that we gave Qatar like this power to have the World Cup and the decision from FIFA, I think that’s an issue. It just allows for that sort of hate and discrimination to continue.” Nations across the world have also protested FIFA’s decision by sending their players to the cup with armbands and other accessories in support of Pride. However Qatar has lashed back by taking these countries back to FIFA, and FIFA stating countries wearing these bands will be issued immediate yellow cards. Qatar has also faced much criticism for its use of workers to construct stadiums and other infrastructure in preparation for the World Cup with Qatar admitting 400-500 migrant workers died while working on the construction.

More outcries come from Iran where protests for Women’s rights have been going on for months. There have been dozens of missing person cases coming out of the country, with a lot of them being Women who lead protests. Just this past week, the United States Men's Team Twitter account posted a picture of the two countries' flags, promoting the game on Wednesday. However, the US removed the Islamic symbol on the flag to protest the disappearance of voices in Iran. Immediately afterward, Iran called for America to be banned from the World Cup. America took the post down but continued to back the People of Iran even during the game.

With so much drama surrounding the Cup, we must remember that Football is indeed for everyone. We continue to make progress as a globe and as American Soccer player Tyler Adams said, “I think as long as you see progress, that’s the most important thing.”