Lawyers representing a group of women who were subjected to non-consensual gynaecological examinations at Doha Airport in the capital of Qatar two years ago called on the country to guarantee the safety of female fans travelling to next month's football World Cup.
In October 2020, women on ten Qatar Airways flights were forced to undergo an intrusive physical search to find the mother of a newborn baby left in an airport bathroom bin. In light of the upcoming FIFA World Cup that will take place in the country, their lawyers called on Qatar to vow women won't be treated poorly.
"With less than a month to go before the World Cup, women (who will travel to Qatar) are entitled to guarantees from Qatar that human rights will be respected," one of the group's lawyers Damian Sturzaker said, Belga News Agency reports.
Two years following the incident, five of the women, aged between 31 and 73, filed a lawsuit in Australia this month against the airline and Qatar's Civil Aviation Authority, seeking damages and compensation for the trauma they suffered.
"This group of brave women has been forced to take legal action to send a message to Qatar that what happened was wrong and should not happen again," said Sturzaker.
Tournament under fire
The fact the Gulf nation was chosen as the location for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, taking place between 20 November and 18 December, has repeatedly come under fire for various reasons, from the poor working conditions on construction sites, which has reportedly resulted in dozens of deaths, to concerns about the environmental impact, and allegations of corruption that led to the country hosting the World Cup.
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For this reason, several cafes and municipalities in Brussels announced that they won't broadcast football matches at part of The World Cup when it takes place in Qatar due to ethical concerns.
The Arab country is also an ultra-conservative Muslim monarchy, where sex and procreation outside marriage are punishable by imprisonment.
Its official male guardianship system denies women the right to make many key decisions about their lives, including whether they can travel abroad or receive some forms of reproductive health care, a recent Human Rights Watch report highlighted.
