The growing calls for a boycott of the Qatar World Cup
In December, Danish caretaker Casper Fischer...decided to petition Denmark’s parliament – the Folketing – to get the country’s national football team to boycott the World Cup finals being held in Qatar next year..“We do not believe that we, as a democratic nation striving to live up to global human rights, can benefit from having some of the country’s most prominent sporting players participate in the finals and blue-stamp a dictatorship like Qatar,” states the petition...It is clear that Mr Fischer is not alone in his views. One MP, Karsten Honge of the Socialist People’s Party, has backed the need for any parliamentary debate regardless of a petition, claiming it would allow Denmark’s point of view to be “seen and heard” in Qatar. Even if there was no boycott, a parliamentary debate would “put maximum pressure on Qatar to improve human rights and workers’ rights”, Honge tells The Independent. And the bank which sponsors the Danish team’s training gear, Arbejdernes Landsbank, says it does not want to be associated with the tournament.