First Minister Must Not Contribute to the Whitewashing of Qatar

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on First Minster Mark Drakeford to cancel his plans to visit Qatar during this year’s World Cup alongside Economy Minister Vaughan Gething and Arts and Sports Minister Dawn Bowden.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have previously called on the Welsh Government to shut its office in Qatar over its poor human rights record and have stated that the First Minister visiting sends the wrong message about what priority the Welsh Government gives to human rights.

UK Labour has agreed to a boycott of the games, following concerns over the treatment of construction workers and the criminalisation of same-sex relationships in the country.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds had first called on the Welsh Government to close its office in Qatar in October 2021 and reiterated her call just last month after a British national was found hanged in the country and an investigation by the Times showed he was tortured by Qatari security forces. 

The Welsh Government have continually rejected calls to close the office.

Qatar ranks extremely poorly on several human rights metrics. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s World Democracy Index, Qatar ranks 126/167 nations making the country an “authoritarian regime”. The country also performs poorly on woman’s rights, with a male guardianship system still in place which means most women still need the permission of a male guardian to carry out everyday tasks.

Qatar has also hit headlines in recent years over their alleged use of foreign migrants for slave labour, including in the construction of stadiums for the World Cup in Qatar, which was billed by Amnesty International as a form of “modern serfdom”.

Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said:

“Mark Drakeford and his colleagues must not contribute to the whitewashing of Qatar’s human rights record.

“UK Labour have rightfully set out a very clear line that visiting Qatar in an official capacity during the World Cup would be the wrong thing to do.

“There is a clear and concerted effort by the Qatari Government to try and use this tournament to distract from their notorious human rights record. The Welsh Government did not send delegations to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, it would be equally wrong of them to do so now and unless they plan to raise human rights concerns publicly, they would be contributing to the PR exercise by the regime.

“Throughout the duration of our calls for the Welsh Government to shut its Qatar Office, the Welsh Government has insisted that ‘it believed in engaging with countries that don’t share values on human rights in order to influence change’, yet we have seen no material evidence of the Welsh Government calling for greater human rights in the country.

“Mark Drakeford should urgently cancel his plans to visit Qatar if he really cares about human rights.”