http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-24...llegations.html

Delegates at FIFA’s 62nd Congress in Budapest will be asked to agree on changes to the way it deals with the investigation and prosecution of corrupt practices, and the creation of a body to vet the propriety of individuals to sit on its executive.

Blatter, 76, last year sealed a fourth four-year term... He promised action after criticism from sponsors, fans and governments following a number of bribery allegations.

“There are many inside that are perhaps not in favor but we have to do something for the good governance of FIFA, for the transparency of FIFA,” Michel Platini, president of European soccer body UEFA, told reporters.

...the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts was overshadowed by the removal of members of the executive board for allegedly offering to sell their votes. At one point half the board’s 24 members were accused of, or sanctioned for, wrongdoing.

Mark Pieth's comments at the press conference today.

http://www.stabroeknews.com/2012/news/breaking-news/05/27/warner-i-won’t-be-destroyed-by-fifa/

MP Jack Warner says he won’t be destroyed by FIFA boss Sepp Blatter. Yesterday, the Guardian carried a report that FIFA will take legal steps to recover the ownership of the US$25.5 million Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence, which football’s world governing body claims to have funded.

An AP report said on Friday that Blatter has since cited a problem in salvaging the Macoya property, which was allegedly signed over to former Concacaf president and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner’s family business.

Warner said he does not own the Centre of Excellence. He said, “They have all the records, they can check it and see who owns it and who doesn’t own it...

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/05/28/war-crimes-prosecutor-nominated-as-fifa-investigator/

Top international prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, best known for pursuing war criminals, has been nominated as chief investigator at FIFA...

Moreno-Ocampo, whose term as chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague ends in June, has been nominated to head the investigations team, said Mark Pieth

Before moving to the ICC, Moreno-Ocampo held positions at Transparency International and was involved when practising law in Argentina in prosecuting military commanders for mass killings and other serious human rights abuses.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=52605

Members of corruption scandal-ridden world soccer body FIFA’s investigative body say investigation into how Qatar secured World Cup is inevitable.

Peter Goldsmith, a former British attorney general and a member of a 13-person panel assembled and headed by Swiss law professor Mark Pieth at the request of FIFA president Sepp Blatter said the Qatari bid for 2022 would be investigated as would the awarding of the Russia 2018 World Cup as part of wider inquiry into the soccer body’s decisions over the last decade. Mr. Goldsmith told Bloomberg News that the inquiry would likely be launched once International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo takes over in July as FIFA’s lead anti-corruption investigator.

If the FIFA investigation could prove troublesome, so could controversy over workers’ rights in Qatar.

...labor conditions were one reason why the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last week disqualified Qatar’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics. “The IOC’s evaluation of Doha’s Olympics bid stated ‘training and accommodating an experienced Olympic Games workforce to deliver this infrastructure within the required timeframe presents a major challenge and risk,”

http://mideastposts.com/2012/06/needed-practical-questions-for-qatar-2022/

There are so many issues related to the challenges of Qatar’s hosting a World Cup in the summer, most of which have yet to be addressed by the media.

These are the Top 5 :

Feb 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footbal...rade-votes.html

Telegraph Sport first disclosed allegations of collusion between the two bids in September last year but they were denied by both bids. A subsequent investigation by Fifa’s ethics committee said that there was insufficient evidence to take any action.

On Monday, however, Blatter told the BBC that the two bids had colluded...

The deal between Qatar and the Iberian bid was thought to be worth seven votes, which was exactly how many Spain-Portugal received in both rounds of the 2018 voting.
If, as Blatter claimed yesterday, Qatar received the same seven votes, it provided more than half of the 12 they required to win.

“Major sporting events shed a spotlight on conditions in countries. There are labor issues here in the country, but Qatar is committed to reform. We will require that contractors impose a clause to ensure that international labor standards are met. Sport and football in particular, is a very powerful force. Certainly we can use it for the benefit of the region.” Mr. Al Thawadi said.

http://www.ituc-csi.org/qatar-s-workers-need-a-real-trade.html?lang=en

Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, will meet with Qatar’s Labour Minister on 11 June at the ILO’s annual conference. “We will set out for Qatar’s Labour Minister the legal steps the government needs to take to ensure freedom of association and collective bargaining for its huge migrant workforce,” said Sharan Burrow.

http://mideastposts.com/2012/05/trade-unions-reject-qatars-labour-rights/

The looming confrontation between Qatar and the international workers’ movement comes at a sensitive time for the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that incorporates Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. The GCC is preparing for a summit in Riyadh later this month to discuss a political union that would allow Saudi Arabia to pressure the smaller states to fall in line with its more conservative social and foreign policies at a time that the Middle East and North Africa are experiencing popular revolts in demand of greater freedom.

“Gradual change is not good enough. The urgency is because the stadiums are about to be constructed in a serious way. Companies are gearing up their supply chains and costing infrastructure on a model of modern day slavery. We want that to change and companies might have to adjust their costing and pricing accordingly,” Ms. Burrow said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/12/sport/football/qatar-world-cup-human-rights-watch/

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has compiled a 146-page report -- "Building a better World Cup: Protecting migrant workers" -- examining Qatar's recruitment and employment system, where 94% of its workforce are migrant workers.

...the Nepali embassy reported 191 Nepali worker deaths in 2010, and the Indian embassy reported 98 Indian migrant deaths -- ncluding 45 deaths of young, low-income workers due to cardiac arrest, so far in 2012 -- the Qatar Labor Ministry says there have no more than six worker deaths over the last three years.

But in HRW's interviews with 73 migrant construction workers they reported a host of problems, including unpaid wages, illegal salary deductions, crowded and unsanitary labor camps, and unsafe working conditions.

"The Ministry has received no complaint of forced labor and it is inconceivable that such a thing exists in Qatar as the worker may break his contract and return to his country whenever he wishes and the employer cannot force him to remain in the country against his will," it said in a letter to HRW...

FIFA, meanwhile, has pledged to raise worker rights issues with the Qatar government.