The emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, 42, spoke during the opening of the 2022 World Cup, this Sunday (20). Despite the controversies involving human rights violations in the country, the leader praised diversity in his speech.
“What a beauty to bring all these differences, all this diversity together to bring everyone together here. I wish all the teams much success and high sporting spirit. To all of you, my best wishes and that you enjoy this Cup. Welcome to Doha ’ said the emir.
The speech contradicts policies in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal. Two weeks ago, Khalid Salman, a former Qatari national team player and World Cup ambassador, defined homosexuality as “mental damage”.
The country says it will tolerate gay visitors, but “they have to accept our rules,” Salman said in an interview with the ZDF channel. In addition to denying rights to the LGBTQIA+ community, the country is involved in allegations of exploitation of migrant labor.
The allegations of human rights violations have motivated protests in Europe since the choice of Qatar as host of the World Cup. Some demonstrations were recorded this Sunday (20) in cities such as Berlin, London and Paris.
In response to the criticism, Hassan Al Thawadi, the head of the organization of the tournament, published an open letter in which he claims that comments about Qatar are often based on “racist images based on long-standing prejudices and stereotypes of the Middle East and the Arab world”. .
Read the emir’s full speech
In the name of God, the clement, the merciful, and of Qatar, this Arab country, we welcome everyone to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 with open arms. We work and make every effort to ensure the success of this edition of the Cup. We invest for the good of all humanity.
Finally we arrived at the big day, the opening day, a day expected by many people. And for 28 days, the whole world will follow this celebration of international football, in this space of dialogue and civilization. People, however different, different nationalities, different cultures, different orientations, will gather here in Qatar, and all continents will gather in our country
What a beauty to bring all these differences together, all this diversity to bring everyone together here. I wish all teams much success and high sportsmanship. To all of you, my best wishes and that you enjoy this World Cup. Welcome to Doha.
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