There are perhaps few ironies in 2016 more powerful than a human rights conference in Qatar. The West Asian country continues to be pilloried for creating infrastructure for the football World Cup in 2022 on the backs of slave-like treatment of guest workers, their frequent injuries and deaths... [the Forum] could be said to be an attempt by Qatar to counter a public relations disaster and its attempt to brush its human rights record under the magic carpet of infrastructure and sporting showbiz... I prefer to think of it as another emphatic step towards greater awareness of local and regional issues, human rights related to business and a cross-border networking of stakeholders.