Chair of the Working Group on Sport of Transparency International Germany Sylvia Schenk (also right) visits the construction site at Khalifa International Stadium on her second visit to Qatar for a recent Unesco conference.


German lawyer and former 800 meter runner Sylvia Schenk took part in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, and has been a Board Member of Transparency International Germany from 2006 until 2013. She now leads their working group ‘sport’ as well as co-ordinating the Sport and Rights Alliance (SRA) with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, ITUC, Terre Des Hommes, FIFPro and Football Supporters Europe.
On her second visit to Qatar for a recent Unesco conference, Schenk met with Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) secretary general Hassan al-Thawadi, and was briefed at the SC offices on the Workers’ Welfare Standards being implemented across all 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar projects.
Thereafter she took time to see this implementation first-hand on a visit to the construction site of the Khalifa International Stadium, and sat down for an in-depth interview on her thoughts on Qatar’s progress, areas for improvement, the changing city of Doha and how a mega-event can help to accelerate social development.

This is your second visit to Qatar. What impressions of the country do you take back home?
I did not see much, but I did my daily running. That is important for me, to feel safe alone at seven in the morning. This is not possible in every country of the world. I am from Frankfurt, so I am used to a skyline. Here there are many more skyscrapers with an interesting design. Different styles come together, and from almost zero, something like a big American city is being created. Qataris have their right to catapult themselves into modernity and I find it a very exciting development. The interesting thing to see is how strategically they are going about it. With the Qatar National Vision 2030 in mind, they are for example also looking at women’s rights, all the way to the women’s national team they are developing in football. It is a very thorough approach and very strategic, and I learned that even the concern for workers’ welfare is a result of the National Vision, and not caused by external critics.

What impact do you think the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar can have on a country that is developing so fast, compared to the tournament in Germany?
When there is so much construction everywhere, there is certainly a lot of development taking place. It is interesting to see how you can keep traditions and still build the future. To be honest even the World Cup in Germany was a catalyst with regards to our own mood as a nation and it developed football in Germany and increased the quality of the stadiums for the league. A World Cup always moves a lot. Because Qatar is doing so much in a short space of time, such a World Cup can be an accelerator for change beyond the infrastructure – more than in a country which has already been through a certain and especially continuous development phase.

You met the SC Secretary General Hassan al-Thawadi for the second time, following your initial meeting in Frankfurt this summer. How did your conversations go?
We had a very open conversation in Frankfurt already, at the start probing a bit whether one can trust one another, but I think that is normal. I found it very interesting to hear re-confirmed from him the ambitions and motivations he has to improve and develop his country through this tournament. He was also open to talking about the problems and said that it needs time. We talked already in Frankfurt about the Kafala system reform and that any delays on this are not helpful, but I saw here that there is a lot happening on this Khalifa Stadium construction site. One needs to extend this to construction sites not directly linked to the World Cup and can hope that this will spread to other sites which are not related to the World Cup, and also into the neighbouring countries. It is not only Qatar which has to deal with these issues and perhaps Qatar is the most advanced in the region in dealing with these problems and changing things. That is sometimes portrayed in a quite one-sided way in Europe and North America.
 
How do you think a mega-event like the FIFA World Cup can leave a lasting legacy?
There are two parts to this. In Germany we have the debate also: What stays for the country after the tournament? One thing is the hardware, the buildings. Here the discussion is: What will be needed afterwards for a small population? But something like the metro which is being built here will be very useful if you take a look at the congestion on the streets now. I know from the Qatar 2022 bid that solar energy is a big topic here, in order to become more sustainable and move away from oil and gas dependence. As for the software, I find it very interesting how mega-events can propel social change, if it is done in the right way. I still remember on the 2nd of December during the bid presentations in Zurich, Qatar’s was the only delegation where a woman said something. Everyone else, the Americans, the English, the Australians, only had men who were presenting. So back then I thought: I would not have expected this, they surprised me in a positive manner. I knew Monika Staab very well, who built up women’s football here, and I find that a huge step for equal rights and health issues.

You also had the chance to meet the SC’s Workers’ Welfare Unit and be briefed about the Standards which they are implementing. What did you take with you from these discussions?
I have worked a lot in terms of sustainability in different areas, and I have seen many such women who work in a very engaged way. I have the feeling the SC’s experts would fit into the same discussion in Europe or the USA: how do we take the next steps, how do we take this forward. They were very credible and I believe they are doing the best to improve conditions. I think that is something positive and I hope they will have the support needed to be successful.   (SC.qa)



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