Danish Football Federation Intends to "Work with Locals” In Qatar

Danish FA is still hesitant to support demands for a $440 million Qatar worker compensation package.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) request for a $440 million package to compensate the families of migrants who died while working on World Cup projects in Qatar was rejected by the Danish Football Association (DBU), who instead called for the creation of a migration center.

In remarks given on the sidelines of the Play The Game conference, the federation's president, Jesper Moller, said that further information is required by the DBU before the regulatory body can assess the request for compensation.

"Who pays should be made clear. And from where does the funding come? What happens to the money then? We are concentrating on a migrant center," said Jesper Moller, president of the federation.

"Protests against what?" The president of SC claims that the World Cup has always been an occasion for joy.

"Reports from Qatar indicate that having this migrant center would be a very, very good idea. From the Danish perspective, we must cooperate with the locals.

Considering Denmark's frequent calls to boycott the upcoming World Cup in Qatar over alleged human rights issues, the president's remarks are unexpected. Those campaigns have been put on hold ever since Denmark earned a spot in the competition.

The organization has changed its former position of total boycott in favor of choosing "a discussion" with Qatar to introduce a number of steps to help raise awareness about human rights violations.

Reducing the number of travels to Qatar is one of the actions taken by DBU to stop commercial activities that promote the World Cup hosts' events and to leave room for criticism if necessary.

HRW calls

Human Rights Watch and other rights organizations issued an appeal in May calling for workers in Qatar and their families to be compensated for the human rights abuses they had endured.

HRW's Minky Worden emphasized the organization's demand for a $440 million compensation package for workers, saying that FIFA "needs to take urgent action to live up to its own human rights commitments & to make amends to workers who have paid the ultimate price for FIFA's original failure to do human rights due diligence."

FIFA, the event's planners, or any of the 32 teams competing in this year's World Cup haven't responded much to the demand for financial compensation for the workers.

At the most recent UEFA Congress in Vienna, FIFA President Infantino cited "compensation," but the organization later clarified that the official meant guaranteeing the proper payment of staff salaries and not to compensate for losses - as was suggested by HRW.

US Soccer, the German DFB, and the Football Association have not yet responded.

A human rights framework is required to protect everyone impacted by football's premier event, according to Worden. "The lessons from Qatar's World Cup should be that workers do not need to die to deliver any mega sporting event," he added.