Qatar 2022: Amnesty International says architects involved in stadiums may contribute to "sportswashing" if they do not speak of human rights; incl. co. comment
"Silence of World Cup stadium architects "assists" Qatar's sportswashing attempts", 15 Nov 2022
Architects of the FIFA 2022 World Cup stadiums should speak out on human rights issues or risk helping Qatar in its "sportswashing attempts", says Amnesty International's Peter Frankental in this exclusive interview...
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which starts this week, will be hosted in eight stadiums built or refurbished for the event designed by architecture studios Foster + Partners, Fenwick-Iribarren Architects, Zaha Hadid Architects, Aecom, Dar Al-Handasah, Ibrahim M Jaidah, Ramboll and Pattern Design.
The stadiums have been largely built by migrant workers, with the country widely criticised for the conditions experienced by these workers including by Amnesty International, which accused Qatar of using forced labour on World Cup sites in 2016...
Frankental believes that if companies designing the event's stadiums do not make statements on these reported human rights issues they may be contributing to sportswashing – a term that describes the use of sports to distract from unethical practices...
Dezeen contacted the studios involved in designing the World Cup stadiums to ask how they had used their influence. Foster + Partners, which was the only studio to respond, explained that it had added clauses into its contracts but was not retained for the stadium's construction phase.
"We are committed to the welfare of construction workers on our projects across the world," said a spokesperson. "At Lusail Stadium, we made modifications and additions to the specifications in the preliminary tender documents to ensure that they adhered to stringent standards for workers' welfare"Foster + Partners