Qatari police continue to abuse LGBT people even as the country prepares to host the FIFA Men's World Cup next month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2022) Qatari police continue to abuse LGBT people even as the country prepares to host the FIFA Men's World Cup next month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday.
The US-based nonprofit said it had interviewed six LGBT victims of abuse by the Interior Ministry's Preventive Security Department, who claimed they had been arbitrarily detained, humiliated and beaten while in custody between 2019 and September 2022.
"The Qatari government should call an immediate halt to this abuse and FIFA should push the Qatari government to ensure long-term reform that protects LGBT people from discrimination and violence," HRW LGBT rights researcher Rasha Younes said.
The world football's governing body adopted guidelines in 2016, after it awarded Qatar the right to host the championship, that prohibit infringements on human rights. Qatar's World Cup leadership assured FIFA that gay fans would be welcome and that rainbow flags would be allowed in the stadiums.
"Suggestions by officials that Qatar would make an exception to its abusive laws and practices for outsiders are implicit reminders that Qatari authorities do not believe that its LGBT citizens and residents deserve basic rights," HRW said.
