Qatar is preparing to throw its hat in the ring for the 2032 Olympics. Between that tiny nation’s corruption and the widespread use of slave labor, the International Olympic Committee should reject them out of hand.
Qatar is looking to be the first Middle Eastern country to host the Olympics, coming right off hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It’s been suspected that Qatar bribed FIFA officials to award the world’s biggest soccer event to the country, and earlier this year, the Department of Justice brought indictments in connection to bribes by Qatar and Russia to land hosting duties for the World Cup.
In order to meet the infrastructure demands of hosting the World Cup, Qatar has turned to slave labor. Migrant workers are paid $200-$300 a month, if the companies decide to pay them at all, to build the countries’ 12 planned stadiums. The chairman of Qatar’s organizing committee confessed that the country had a “high number” of worker deaths in the stadium building process.
One would hope that slave labor and bribery would be enough for the IOC to give a firm rejection, but China’s 2022 Olympics has shown otherwise. The IOC asked Norway to give its members the royal treatment, though a bribe would likely work just as well. China’s detention camps for Uighur Muslims and the suppression of other religious minorities and political dissidents do not seem to have soured the IOC on its prized host either.
Aside from the disgraceful decision to let China host, the future games have been put in good hands. There will be no concerns of slave labor or human rights atrocities from France (2024), Italy (2026), and the United States (2028). This is a welcome development, but the IOC has shown in its selection process that it will give the privilege of hosting to just about any despicable regime that asks.
Qatar has already shown that FIFA made a mistake in giving them such a prestigious sports event. One would hope that the IOC will take that to heart. If not, there will have to be a global discussion within the freedom-loving world about how frequently global sports governing bodies send their national teams to countries that do not deserve the legitimacy that comes with hosting these prominent events.
