No ruler should go to Qatar to watch the World Cup matches. The idea is defended by Miguel Poiares Maduro who, in statements to TSFrecalls that he was president of the governing committee of FIFA when the federation approved the policy of respect for human rights, and accuses the body that oversees world football of not being consistent with what it proclaims.
Miguel Poiares Maduro considers that FIFA “does not have the obligation to promote changes in political regimes”, but being “a global entity”, “it has to deal with states that may not be democracies and that have different cultures”.
“What is essential for me is that FIFA guarantees that whoever organizes the World Cup does so in a manner that is compatible with the principles proclaimed by FIFA in its human rights policy and the principle of non-discrimination that is in its statutes. None of that happened and, from my point of view, public entities should not go either so as not to permeate this type of behavior, ”he says.
For this reason, the researcher created a petition so that no ruler of democratic countries, such as Portugal, go to Qatar.
“These regimes even corrupt to get these big events, because it is a way to reinforce their political capital, protect themselves internally, gain some popularity and social support internally and gain respectability internationally,” he explains.
“If heads of government and heads of state go to the World Cup, what they are doing is covering violations of workers’, women’s and gay rights. Portuguese officials should not go, that’s not the way in which they support or stop supporting the Portuguese team. They can support the Portuguese team in Portugal”, he defends.
Regarding the statements by FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, who on Saturday described Qatar’s critics as hypocritical and defended that Europe must apologize to the rest of the world for the last 300 years of history, Miguel Poiares Maduro is at a loss for words. in Portuguese to qualify the Swiss statements. .
“Hearing those statements reminds me of the English expression ‘hubris’, which is arrogance mixed with a total lack of perception of reality. Certainly, Western countries have many faults throughout their history and have behaved very negatively, but that is more of a reason to worry and have moral and civic responsibility with the rights of migrants, women and homosexuals, “he concludes. the.
Source: TSF
