The Bulletin., August 13, 2022, Page 13, Image 13

THE BULLETIN • SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2022 B5
SOCCER | WORLD CUP
Rights group urges FIFA, Qatar to compensate workers
Associated Press
Hassan Ammar/AP
FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaks in April before the 2022 World
Cup draw in Doha, Qatar.
Wallace
Continued from B1
Wallace had no intention of
testing the free agent market
because he believes his only
future in NASCAR is with
23XI.
“I thought from Day 1 on
joining this team that I wanted
to make this where I retire and
a place that I call home for a
very long time,” Wallace said.
“I’m just trying to do the best
that I can and continue those
efforts.”
The team expanded this
season to add a second car,
with veteran Kurt Busch as
Wallace’s teammate. Busch
will miss his fourth consecu-
tive race on Sunday with con-
cussion-like symptoms, which
has put his playoff berth in
jeopardy.
At the same time, Wallace is
clawing toward his own spot
in the 16-driver field. Wallace
has never before made the
Cup Series playoffs and heads
into Sunday’s race at Rich-
mond ranked a career-best
19th in the standings.
He’s coming off his first
pole of the season last week at
Michigan International Speed-
way and then a second-place
finish that left him nearly in
tears over falling just short of
his second career win.
“We haven’t had the best
season, but we’ve been able
to turn it around and really
shown what we are capable
of these last handful of races,”
Wallace said. “We know the
urge to win is high and I
thought that was the best op-
portunity that we had all year
long, and just me replaying
the last restart and wondering
what could I have done dif-
ferent?
“I am in a much better place
today; I see how incredible
our team performed ... to put
us in that position. So lots to
be happy for and grateful for,
but in that moment, the sign
of defeat got me there for a
second.”
Wallace has four consec-
utive finishes of eighth or
better, but he needs a victory
in the remaining three regu-
lar-season races to get into the
playoffs. NASCAR races at
Richmond, the road course at
BEIRUT, Lebanon — With
99 days to go until the World
Cup starts in Qatar, Human
Rights Watch on Friday again
urged FIFA and the host na-
tion to improve compensation
for migrant workers and their
families.
The rights group called for
a “comprehensive remedy
program for workers who suf-
fered serious harms, includ-
ing deaths, injuries, and wage
theft” while working on World
Cup-related projects like stadi-
ums, transport and hotels.
Qatar has spent tens of
billions of dollars on infra-
structure since being picked
by FIFA as host in 2010, and
faced intense scrutiny of its
labor laws and treatment of
Watkins Glen and then Day-
tona, where Wallace should
be considering among the fa-
vorites.
Wallace earned his only ca-
reer victory, the first for the
23XI organization, last fall at
Talladega. At Daytona, Wal-
lace has four top-five finishes
in 10 career Cup starts. Three
of those finishes were second.
“Without a doubt,” Wallace
said when asked if he believes
he can win in the regular sea-
son. “We’re really confident
with what we’re bringing back
for Sunday. Watkins Glen is
just a race of survival, you
never know what can hap-
pen. But then Daytona, I think
we’re one of the favorites go-
ing into that. We just have to
continue to do what we do like
we’ve been doing the last four
to five races.
“It seems to be working.
Don’t ask what it is. I can’t re-
ally tell you. But it’s working.”
The extension was an-
nounced a day after Wallace
hosted more than 3,500 peo-
ple at Richmond Raceway for
the inaugural “Bubba’s Block
Party,” which he hopes will
“Qatar has compensated some migrant workers who
have faced serious abuses in recent years, but for many,
these programs were created too late and are still a
major work in progress.”
— Michael Page, HRW’s deputy director for the Middle East
though Amnesty International
has suggested FIFA should pay
$440 million in reparations to
workers — matching the sum
soccer’s world body will pay in
prize money to the 32 national
federations whose teams are
playing in Qatar.
FIFA and tournament or-
ganizers have long cited the
World Cup as a catalyst to
modernize laws and society in
Qatar.
Responding to Amnesty
in May, Qatari organizers
pointed to “significant im-
provements … across accom-
modation standards, health
and safety regulations, griev-
ance mechanisms, healthcare
provision, and reimburse-
ments of illegal recruitment
fees to workers.”
hundreds of thousands of
workers, many from south
Asia, who were needed to
come to the tiny emirate and
build the projects.
“Qatar has compensated
some migrant workers who
have faced serious abuses in
recent years, but for many,
these programs were created
too late and are still a major
work in progress,” said Mi-
chael Page, HRW’s deputy di-
rector for the Middle East.
Since 2010, the agency
claimed, the level of “uncom-
pensated human rights abuses
… is significant.” In Qatar, a
Workers’ Support Fund has
since 2020 paid $164 million
in compensation to 36,373
workers from 17 different
countries, HRW said citing
data from Qatar’s Ministry of
Labor.
The organization did not
specify a figure for how much
compensation is still needed,
bring a younger, more diverse
audience to NASCAR.
The event was one of the
many initiatives Wallace has
tackled as a key figure in di-
versity, equity and inclusion
efforts with both 23I Racing
and NASCAR. His “Live to
be Different Foundation” al-
lows Wallace to engage with
the Charlotte-area community
through backpack drives and
the “Knowledge is Power Pro-
gram” brings students to race
tracks across the country.
Additionally, Wallace’s
clothing design collabora-
tions with both McDonald’s
and Portland’s Columbia
Sportswear Co. have brought
NASCAR to a new audience.
Hamlin called Wallace “a
key part of the early stages
of 23XI” and said the team
would continue pushing his
career. “The goal was to help
him take his career to a higher
level, and we have done just
that,” Hamlin said. “Bubba is
continuing to get more com-
petitive each week. We’re ex-
cited to see his growth as he
and the team work toward
achieving our goals.”
NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace outside Soldier Field in Chicago, near
a statue of Walter Payton, in July , during a promotional visit to an-
nounce a Cup Series street race in the city, to be held July 2, 2023.
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP file
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