NGO denounces CBF’s favorite hotel group to host World Cup selection

The hotel group, which is the favorite hotel of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) to host the Brazilian team during the World Cup in Qatar, which will be held from November 21, 2022 to December 18, has contract with a security company accused of violating human and labor rights.

This is GSS Certis, a company that provides services to several large companies in the Middle East country.

The complaint is made by the British NGO Business & Human Rights Resource Center and by the Kenyan activist Malcolm Bidali, who worked for GSS Certis.

With a luxurious structure in the central region of Doha, the Westin Hotel is one of those reserved by FIFA for the World Cup. It was the best rated by the CBF after several visits to Qatar in recent years.

“The reason this caught our attention is that the Westin Hotel was specifically named in a complaint as one of the companies that hired GSS Certis to work on the security side,” he tells sheet Isobel Archer, da ONG.

The organization even got in touch with CBF to notify them of the complaints and invite them to talk about the topic.

“The CBF made the choice of the accommodation and training location for the Qatar World Cup 2022 among the options approved and recommended by the organization of the event”, replied the entity, in a note to the report.

When contacted, GSS Certis did not return Folha’s contacts.

The Marriott group, responsible for the hotel, said it currently has no contract with the security company.

“Marriott International is committed to maintaining a safe, respectful and fair workplace for everyone,” he said in a statement.

To the NGO, Marriot also stated that another property of its own, W Doha, has a contract with GSS Certis, but that the hotel chain guarantees the quality of life for these employees.

For Archer, the fact that the contract does not currently exist does not lessen the CBF’s responsibility, as human and labor rights violations in Qatar are “endemic”.

“It should have been a red flag for Brazil. We would like them to at least recognize the problem, they are documented complaints against a specific property. And at least ensure that the workers — who will take care of the selection at the hotel, make their own beds, serving their food, ensuring their safety—they are being treated well,” he says.

“It is necessary to go beyond the fact that the contract was simply ended and start to question how the situation is now, what the company does to ensure the safety and comfort of its employees, because the same thing may be happening with other workers” , complete.

According to the complaint against GSS Certis, published in May 2020, the company had 2,000 employees in precarious conditions.

They lived in housing developments, in the so-called industrial area, on the outskirts of Doha. Eight people shared an environment of about 4 square meters. There were eight showers for a group of 72 people.

When the pandemic hit, employees were relocated to a village. For a short time: in June 2020 they were taken back to the complex, under the same conditions as before.

Isobel Archer understands that the majority of complaints against the living conditions of migrant workers in Qatar focus on the construction business and the hotel sector still does not have as many a spotlight, despite suffering from the same problems.

She says that she has been looking for several national federations to talk about the topic, but that she has not had many answers.

The Human Rights Resource Center’s latest report on the hotel industry, published in the middle of this year, points out that there is a culture of fear among workers in the country. About 50% of respondents did not want to say their employer’s name, fearing retaliation, and none wanted to expose their own name.

The recent change in labor laws has had limited effect on practice. Before, for example, migrant workers could not change jobs. Now, in theory, they only need to fill out a form on the Ministry of Labor website to apply for the change.

But in interviews conducted by the NGO with workers, none said they could easily change employers. Many were unaware of this new possibility, others were still afraid of ending up being deported, for example.

Many companies continue to adopt past law practices, such as requiring a certificate to apply for a change of employment or ordering a worker to terminate the full term of their contract before moving elsewhere.

Selections such as Norway and athletes such as Lewis Hamilton have been trying to warn about violations in the country.

“The World Cup in Qatar has cast a spotlight on the problems, so for us it’s less a question of whether or not to boycott the World Cup, as we are less than a year away from the tournament, or of changing hotels, because if the Brazil won’t stay at the Westin, another team will stay,” argues Archer.

She defends that the selections demand proof that the places where they will stay comply with the laws and campaign to denounce violations.

Not least because nothing indicates that the problems will end at the final whistle of the Cup.

“Unless the reforms are actually implemented and change the structure [das relações de trabalho] in Qatar, there is a great chance that everything will go back to the way it was before, a great chance for the world to forget about Qatar’s issues,” he says.

“We are fully aware that the problems we have learned are just the tip of the iceberg,” he adds.