A press conference attended by a coalition of Swiss NGOs took place in Geneva. It was dedicated to express the objection of the civil society to the cancellation of the “Fan Zone” for FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar that was planned to be set up in the “Plaine de Plainpalais” in Geneva.

Ednews reports that the event was aimed to draw attention to the fact that the local opposition mainly concerns the politicization of sports and collective and cultural events represented by this late cancellation of the aforementioned event.

The NGOs also demonstrated their positions about denouncing the blatant political basis of this decision, which testifies to the instrumentalization of human rights and the pretext of the energy crisis used for purely political purposes directed against Qatar.

During the event Mr. Guy Mettan, journalist and deputy, former president and director of the Swiss Press Club and former president of the Parliament of Geneva, Dr François Deroche, president of the NGO “Justice and rights without borders”, National Federal Doctor and former President of the National Union of Federal Physicians, Dr. Laurence Brulin, Pharmacist, former Air Liquide Health Regulatory Affairs Director and Programme coordinator, International Institute for Rights and Development, Mr. Xavier Mirande, Lawyer at the Paris Bar as well as the event coordinator Dr. Nidal Salim, Director General GIWEH – Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health – Geneva, Elected Steering Board Member at Swiss Water Partnership (SWP) gave speeches about the raised issue. 

As regards the opinions of the participants, Mr. Guy Mettan expressed his disappointment about the cancellation of the event. Although he is not passionate about soccer, he was present at the press conference because he finds it unfair to attack Qatar, although he is not there to defend Qatar. Mr Guy Mettan said he found it unfair that this particular World Cup is being attacked under the guise of the climate crisis. This would mean that under the pretext of being in unfavorable latitudes, the countries in tropical areas, especially Africa, would no longer have access to this type of event. 

“We must organize events of this type taking into account global warming, but we cannot exclude countries according to their latitude.

Regarding the issue of human rights, Qatar must assume its responsibilities, this type of pretext must not be used to exclude Qatar from organizing such an event and, this includes the right to Fan zones. If countries that do not respect human rights they deny the right to organize this type of sporting event. If so, the USA could also be excluded under the pretext that they have invaded dozens of countries in recent years. There have been 1 million deaths in Iraq, but no one is speaking out against the USA for not organizing the next cup. We must be logical and apply the same standards to all countries. One cannot justify an alleged violation of human rights by discriminating against a host country”. 

Mr François Deroche, president of the NGO “Justice and rights without borders” said for him no country is perfect in its apprehension of the human rights. 

“I have been following Qatar since 2013, since the first findings of Amnesty International. When we compare Qatar to its neighboring countries who are behind this totally unfair campaign, we see that the rights of workers in Qatar have progressed,” he said. 

Mr François Deroche added that the human rights are non-negotiable and sacred for him and should not be politicized.

“To talk about the Beijing Olympics, 4 million Uyghurs are kept in concentration camps and nobody says anything. The big European brands are in China. The City Hall of Paris or Geneva do not say anything about human rights in China. The COP 27 will be held in Egypt where all NGOs agree that human rights are not respected, there are forced disappearances, it is the third country in numbers of executions by death penalty.” 

During the event, Nidal Salim, Director General GIWEH – Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health – Geneva explained the main reason for this event and the circumstances. According to him, soccer is a language of peace and communication as defined in the SDGs and is a source of high quality of life that everyone should enjoy. 

“To my view, the cancellation of the fan zone determines the lives of people and prevents them from enjoying a very special moment that presents the pleasure and joy of watching the World Cup 2022 in Qatar. That is why we are here to challenge this decision.”

As regards the cancellation of the Fan Zone, Nidal Salim said that they contacted the city of Geneva and the company (NEPSA) that was responsible for organizing the event Fan Zone, to understand the circumstances of the decision. 

“When we contacted the company they brought the issue the substantial increase in recent weeks of aggressiveness and incitement to hatred on social networks, the flight of sponsors and advertisers, the damage to the image of their company, the City of Geneva and the State of Geneva that would result from holding the event as the main reason to cancel the fan zone.” 

Having mentioned the aggressiveness and incitement to hatred on social networks, Nidal Salim said the civil society organizers (presented by 14 NGOs) found that the Swiss media, has launched an aggressive media campaign against Qatar, fueled by the language of hatred and racism, combined with Islamophobia. “It is because they cannot imagine, in the narrow and isolated minds that a small Arab and Islamic country could succeed in hosting a major international event. They talk about human rights in Qatar - where Qatar has made many improvements in the field of human rights and continues to develop. There are obviously some shortcomings, and no country is perfect in human rights, including Switzerland”.

According to him, the calling for boycott of the World Cup in Qatar is racist, ethnocentric and hypocritical.

“We call on the complaining countries to respect the rules and culture of the host country and other Arab-Islamic rules and cultures.  Behaviors, values, ethics and culture that may be accepted in Europe are not necessarily accepted in other parts of the world where they are part of the diversity and values”.

In conclusion, as Swiss civil society organizations, the participants praised and congratulated Qatar for its excellent and special preparation for the Qatar 2022 World Cup and added their voices to the FIFA voice where they announce that this World Cup will be the best among all the previous ones. 

Noting that International Institute for Rights and Development, Global Environment Watch, Youth Parliament for SDG, Association International Integration Forum, MIDLINE for Human Rights, International Development and Construction Agency, Association of Victims of Torture, Geneva, Justice and rights without borders, Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health – GIWEH, Center for Peace and Reconciliation Studies, Geneva Council for Rights and Liberties, Africa Culture International Human Rights (ACI Human Rights), Move'n - Federation of Travelers and Center for Gender Justice and women empowerment have been of the organisers of the event.