Research Center: UAE financed incitement campaign against Qatar’s World Cup
The European Microscope for Middle East Issues revealed that the UAE has funded systematic incitement campaigns against the World Cup in Qatar.
The European Microscope highlighted that human rights organizations and members of fan club associations in several European countries, including Germany and France, were active in calling for a boycott of the World Cup after receiving secret sums of money from the UAE.
It said that these parties are trying to launch campaigns among the fans of European clubs that enjoy a popular following in Europe to promote campaigns to boycott the World Cup at the instigation of the Emirates.
It added that the European Football Association and the local federations, especially in the five major leagues, are aware of such politicized activities and are considering taking new measures to curb the politicization of sports through political disputes.
This is in line with what was revealed by the African Journalists Union of a new scandal for the UAE regarding its incitement of press unions to boycott the World Cup tournament scheduled in Qatar next year.
The Union of African Journalists condemned the UAE’s intervention and contacted African press unions to boycott the World Cup in Qatar and incite against Doha.
The statement was issued following a meeting of the African Journalists Union in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, over the past two days.
“We strongly condemn the UAE’s attempts to manipulate journalists’ organizations in Africa to issue public statements or campaign against the 2022 FIFA World Cup that the State of Qatar will host,” the statement said.
The statement stressed the UAE’s rejection of the UAE’s attempts to involve journalists in Africa in political disputes and to manipulate them and their organizations in connection with the organization of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The statement affirmed complete support for the decision of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on the human rights situation of workers in Qatar and the remarkable progress it has made in all fields.
The statement decided to work to directly facilitate African journalists’ coverage of the 2022 World Cup and provide the African people with a full opportunity to follow the global event.
It urged the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the national teams qualified from Africa for the World Cup to be vigilant against these exploitative attempts and to ensure the dignity of Africa.
Emirates Leaks previously revealed that the Emirates used Humanity United, which has close ties to suspicious investments in Abu Dhabi and receives organized funding from it, to incite the State of Qatar.
Documents reviewed by Emirates Leaks showed that the UAE paid financial commissions amounting to tens of millions of dollars to those in charge of the Humanity United Foundation to publish fabricated articles and reports against Doha.
According to the documents, the contractual relationship between the UAE and Humanity United began in 2014. The foundation’s work strategy is mainly based on media incitement against Qatar until the end of the 2022 World Cup.
Humanity United is active in the media to try to distort Qatar’s image, especially about the file of expatriate workers and the work of preparing facilities for the World Cup tournament scheduled in Doha next year.
The documents also showed that Humanity United is actively contracting with human rights organizations and journalists with large sums of money provided by the UAE, including stipulating an attack on Qatar and attempting to offend it and tarnish its image.
The documents showed that under Emirati instructions and directives, this institution had been behind dozens of inflammatory materials in the newspaper against Qatar for a long time, with external funding.
The Omidyar Group established the said enterprise in the year 2005.
The foundation adopts the slogan “against regimes that contribute to human exploitation and violent conflict” and relies on external funds from unknown sources.
It notes the publication of periodic reports in newspapers such as the Guardian at the suggestion of Humanity United, which claims to adopt the slogan “against regimes that contribute to human exploitation and violent conflict” and relies on external funding from unknown sources.
When examining the record of the Omidyar Group, it has large-scale investments in the United Arab Emirates, which raises suspicions that it deliberately directed inflammatory reports that lack facts and evidence to serve its commercial interests.
