Berlin (AFP)
The German football team again delivered a message in favor of human rights on Wednesday, a few hours after Toni Kroos took an unprecedented position on working conditions and the repression of homosexuality in Qatar, host of the World Cup -2022 football.
Before the kick-off of the World Cup qualifying match against North Macedonia, the German players together unfurled a banner proclaiming: "We for the 30!": An allusion to the 30 articles of the Charter of Human Rights of the Nations united.
They sent similar messages in their first two matches on Thursday and Sunday, specifying that the comments were addressed to Qatar, a country under fire from human rights organizations for its treatment of migrant workers, many of them being exploited and working in dangerous conditions, according to these organizations, on sites linked to the next 2022 World Cup.
In recent days, the teams of Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Germany have already made gestures of protest during their respective qualifying matches, in particular by wearing T-shirts with messages on human rights.
Kroos, a member of the team but currently injured, sharply criticized Qatar in the edition of his podcast dated March 30 (https://einfach-mal-luppen.podigee.io/), which he produced with his brother Felix.
In Qatar, according to the law, sodomy is punishable by three years in prison, but cases of prosecution are rare.
"Many workers (...) work without a break, in temperatures that can reach 50 degrees (...) they sometimes suffer from a lack of food or drinking water, which is madness by these temperatures, they do not 'have no medical coverage, and some violence is exercised against these workers, these are points that are naturally unacceptable, "said the footballer.
"Qatar supports the right of footballers (...) to use their platforms to promote human rights," retorted a Qatari government official on Wednesday, "but these criticisms (...) are not aimed fair".
Qatar, the official said, "has made tangible progress on labor reform and is committed to continuing this process with its international partners (...) and remains committed to making comprehensive labor reform a part major legacy of the World-2022 ".
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