Mr. Schäfers, there has been a lot of criticism of the World Cup organizer Qatar, especially because of the working conditions on the World Cup construction sites.

You have been to Qatar many times, most recently with Federal Interior Minister Faeser.

What is your impression of the situation on site?

Britta Beeger

Editor in business and responsible for "The Lounge".

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I was in Qatar for the first time in 2013 and saw exactly what is always criticized in public: bad working conditions, bad accommodation, bad hygienic conditions.

We then reached an agreement with the Qatar World Cup Organizing Committee, which is responsible for hosting the World Cup and building the stadium infrastructure.

This enabled us to carry out work inspections again and again.

And my impression is that the migrant workers on the World Cup construction sites have had it much better recently.

Thanks to the measures taken in recent years, the working conditions corresponded to German or American standards.

Praise from a trade unionist for working conditions in Qatar is unexpected.

True, we're usually better known for red flags and radical action.

In autocratic states like Qatar, however, you cannot change the situation immediately.

It took us 100 years in Germany to achieve the standard we have today.

That doesn't excuse the human rights violations in Qatar, I don't want to be misunderstood.

But you have to give the Qataris time.

They have a completely different culture and a completely different policy.

It is unrealistic to believe that the situation there will change overnight.

Do the guest workers, who often come from South Asia, also think that their situation has improved?

Yes.

On my last trip alone, I spoke to at least 250, maybe 300 migrant workers.

Some of these are construction site spokespersons, but there are also normal construction workers and employees from security services.

They tell me: After the World Cup, the lights will go out here and there won't be as much reporting about Qatar.

But please stay in the country as an international union, because once you're there, things are a little better for us.

Can these people express their opinion openly at all?

Yes.

Qatar is certainly a well-monitored state, but we meet with the workers in restaurants or hotels, for example.

It's all possible.

You speak of western standards.

Under what conditions do the guest workers work and live in Qatar?

They are usually well accommodated on the construction sites where we have been.

Not in small rooms with ten or twelve workers, but with a maximum of four.

When it comes to the food supply, the respective habits of the countries of origin are taken into account.

The Indian does not eat what the Nepalese or the Pakistanis eat.

There are training courses on occupational health and safety.

And then there are the so-called community leaders, who represent their compatriots and with whom you can exchange ideas if, for example, wages are not paid somewhere.

Four times a year, these representatives meet with the Qatari Minister of Labor and discuss what is going well and what is not.

I've been there too.

The discussion culture at these meetings has become more and more open over the years.

Despite this, there are still many problems.

In August, guest workers demonstrated because they had not been paid their wages for months.

60 were arrested, some deported directly.

Amnesty International also continues to report significant human rights violations.

The improvements that I have described do not apply to the mass of more than 2 million migrant workers in Qatar, but only to the around 40,000 workers on the World Cup construction sites at their peak.

In other words, where stadiums, roads and hotels are being built.

But there is a development, and we must continue to work on this development.

Impatience is actually in my DNA as a trade unionist.

But again: It is of little use to hit the Qataris every day.

The sometimes somewhat undifferentiated criticism even means that the conservative forces get the upper hand and the reformers come under increasing pressure.

So yes: it still happens that migrant workers are deprived of their wages or have their passports confiscated.

There's still a long way to go.

But something is happening.