Court rejects claim against FIFA

ZURICH — A Swiss court has rejected a claim lodged against FIFA by several trade unions for alleged abuses of workers’ rights in 2022 World Cup host nation Qatar, football’s world governing body said Friday. FIFA welcomed the Commercial Court of Zurich’s ruling to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Netherlands’ largest trade union, the FNV Bondgenoten, along with two Bangladeshi unions and a laborer from the South Asian country, it said in a statement. In October, the FNV and one of its members had threatened to sue FIFA for alleged wrongful conduct and liability for human rights violations in relation to the World Cup in Qatar. The FNV “together with (a) Bangladeshi worker wants to take FIFA to court to demand an end to modern slavery”, the union said in a statement at the time. The summons came after rights groups accused Qatar of abusing the rights of more than 5,000 workers helping to build the facilities for the Gulf state which will host the 2022 World Cup. In March, Amnesty International published a report saying workers at the Khalifa International Stadium, mostly from Bangladesh, India and Nepal, were lied to about their salaries, went unpaid for months and were housed in squalid accommodation, which it claimed amounted to forced labor. One of the workers was Nadim Shariful Alam, 32, who belongs to the FNV’s international branch and was a co-plaintiff in the 1.1 million-member FNV’s case. — AFP