Welsh Lib Dems Only Party in Wales Making a Stand on Human Rights

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have criticized the other three parties in the Senedd for being weak on human rights, after it emerged that all three parties support sending a Welsh Government delegation to the World Cup in Qatar. Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS has stated her party is the only one in Wales willing to take a stand in favour of human rights and that the position of other Welsh parties is extremely disappointing.

Qatar has come under fire for its human rights record as the World Cup approaches. 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.

Being LGBT+ in Qatar can be punished by execution. An investigation by iNews found that gay men were still being hunted by the Qatari secret police as recently as last month.

Qatar has also hit headlines in recent years over its 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 slavery”. A Guardian investigation found that up to thousands of these workers died.

Welsh Labour are sending a delegation to the Qatar World Cup including First Minster Mark Drakeford, Minister for the Economy Vaughn Gething and Culture and Sport Minister Dawn Bowden despite UK Labour Leader Kier Starmer calling for Labour to boycott the tournament.

Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said:

“What we have seen over recent weeks is an appalling disregard for human rights by Welsh Labour, the Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru.

“Andrew RT Davies’ comments today in the Senedd where he endorsed not only the Welsh Government going to Qatar, but also to Iran come despite some of his own members including Laura Anne Jones MS and Natasha Asghar MS having attended a protest in solidarity with Iranian protests recently.

“Likewise Plaid Cymru’s Elin Jones’ comments that us raising human rights concerns was ‘spoiling the moment’ shows what little disregard Plaid Cymru show towards the issue. Human rights must be spoken up for no matter how inconvenient it may be at the time.

“Then we have Welsh Labour – a party founded on workers’ rights who seem happy to ignore the fact thousands of migrant workers have died in Qatar including in the construction of the World Cup stadiums in order to seek out investment.

“The Welsh Liberal Democrats are clear, we will always stand up for human rights no matter how inconvenient that is and the fact that we are the only party in the Senedd willing to do this only goes to show why having Liberal voices in the Senedd is necessary.

“Mark Drakeford and Welsh Labour should immediately cancel their trip. Unless the Ministers have been promoted to the team itself, their presence will make no difference to how Team Wales do at the tournament.”

ENDS