ABSTRACT
Awarding the FIFA World Cup 2022 to Qatar in December 2010 marked a key moment in the emerging sport and human rights movement. These has been a strong focus on labour issues in particular since 2013, around the time stadium construction was beginning. This chapter includes a brief account of FIFA and Qatar’s encounter with the human rights and labour rights movement. It discusses the various rights concerns raised in relation to Qatar hosting the World Cup, with a particular focus on the rights of migrant labourers. It then focuses on the labour law reforms undertaken by the State of Qatar in response to the scrutiny it faced in the run-up to Qatar 2022, the lessons learnt, the promises forgotten and the gaps in implementation of the reforms. It concludes with some thoughts on how Qatar, FIFA and the larger international community can continue to push for continued reforms, both in Qatar and beyond.
