(9 Nov 2013) FIFA President Sepp Blatter said on Saturday that he is confident of resolving all issues with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar - which has come under criticism by rights groups over conditions for workers building the venues.
Blatter also told reporters the decision to award the tournament to the desert nation was "not reversible".
"The decision taken by the executive committee in October that there is no one single doubt that the World Cup 2022 will be organised in Qatar. The decision taken by the executive committee on the 2nd of December 2010 and (is) not reversible," Blatter said.
There have been calls to move the tournament because of Qatar's intense heat.
Blatter said he plans high-level meetings with Qatari officials on various issues, including labour rules and the possibility of shifting the tournament to winter to avoid the searing Gulf summer heat.
Rights groups have complained about the lack of safeguards for the mainly South Asian migrant labourers in Qatar and across the Gulf, including low-grade housing and employers withholding the worker passports.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Al Thani, managing director of the Qatar 2013 Supreme Committee, admitted labour rights to be something the country has long struggled, but reaffirmed the Persian Gulf Kingdom's commitment to end abuses.
"(The) workers' welfare issue has come about long before we were awarded the hosting rights. We have had a tremendous amount of workers in Qatar for the past 15 to 20 years," he said. "In terms of accountability, I think we as Qataris hold ourselves accountable first and foremost, before anything else."
"Before answering to international media and before answering to international organisations, we owe it to ourselves to hold ourselves accountable for what kind of country we would like to live in," he added.
Like other Gulf states, Qatar relies on migrant workers mostly from South Asia.
Rights groups have long complained about abuses across the Gulf such as substandard living conditions and employers holding workers' passports.
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