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David Beckham knocked down for PR video praising Qatar “perfect”


Human rights campaigners on Thursday slammed David Beckham for standing in the face of a flashy publicity campaign hailing World Cup host Qatar as “perfection”, despite concerns about the country’s rights record. The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and England star appeared in a series of videos posted on the website of Qatar Tourism, where he sampled local food and art and visited a desert camp, exclaimed, “This is perfect for me!”

Amnesty International UK’s head of priority campaigns, Felix Jakens, said the ads were “just the latest slick and positive Qatari video that David Beckham has left bare-faced in. “.

The London-based human rights watchdog has defended Beckham for “failing to address the country’s appalling human rights record”.

The video campaign features Beckham saying that the Arab country is “really an incredible place to spend a few days stopping”.

“I can’t wait to bring my kids back,” he added.

Beckham last year signed a contract believed to be worth 150 million euros ($172 million) to promote the gas-rich Gulf nation, which is hosting this year’s World Cup. He was appointed as a cultural ambassador.

Jakens urges Beckham to use his “unique profile” to highlight “horrific abuse” that tens of thousands of migrant workers have faced while working on billions of dollars worth of sites of the World Cup.

Earlier this year, an amnesty ordered world football’s governing body FIFA to set up a $440 million fund for “mistreated” workers in Qatar.

The Arab state has faced accusations of a lower reported death and injury count among workers as well as complaints about unpaid wages.

There are also questions about respect for the rights of women and the LGBTQ community.

The tiny state with its conservative Muslim leaders has been in the spotlight for rights since it was awarded the World Cup in 2010.

Critics say Qatar’s progress over the past decade has been mixed and that more pressure must be on the country and FIFA before the first ball is kicked in the 32-country tournament on 20 November.

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Qatar denies the number of migrant worker deaths reported by some international media and says it has introduced a series of reforms to employment regulations since being selected to host the World Cup. Cup.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from the syndication feed.)

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