‘World Cup Syndrome’: Academic hits back at Western criticism over Qatar’s hosting of 2024 bioethics event – Doha News

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The next World Bioethics Congress will be held from June 3-6, 2024 at the Research Center for Islamic Law and Ethics in Doha.

A Qatar-based scholar who proposed that the Gulf state host the 2024 Congress of the International Bioethics Association (IAB), has hit back at Western critics by saying it is unfair to single out the Arab and Muslim country and to declare him ineligible on the basis of subjective criteria. .

You cannot identify a country, which happens to be an Arab-Muslim country, and tell me, according to my criteria, Qatar is not eligible, said Mohammed Ghaly, professor of Islam and biomedical ethics at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University of Qatar.

This discussion must be based on consistent criteria that we agree on as a bioethical community, and applied to all future hosts.

Critics from Western academia have raised objections to the selection of Qatar as the host of the next World Bioethics Congress, scheduled for next year.

The concerns mainly revolve around Qatar’s alleged human rights record. The International Bioethics Association has decided to hold the 2024 congress in Doha, marking the first time the event will take place in a Middle Eastern country.

Bioethics encompasses the study and professional application of ethical principles in the field of health, particularly with regard to the ethical challenges posed by new technologies.

In March, a collective of professors and bioethicists from three Dutch universities published a letter in the journal Bioethics, expressing reservations about what they called an “ethics washout” due to the choice of Qatar as the host country. . The letter specifically cited concerns about human rights abuses, including alleged mistreatment of migrant workers as well as the Gulf country’s impact on climate change.

Ghaly maintained that he acknowledged the ongoing debate regarding Qatar’s suitability as host, but stressed that he supported the discussion provided certain criteria were met.

Prof HBKU believes the discourse surrounding Qatar’s hosting of the event has been influenced by the controversy surrounding Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

I doubt that the colleagues who raised these criticisms are influenced by what I call the World Cup syndrome, he noted. They forget that, unlike the World Cup, the host of this congress is an institute, not a country.

The 17th World Bioethics Congress, in conjunction with the Global Health Innovation Summit, will be held June 3-6 at the Islamic Law and Ethics Research Center in Doha.

IAB President Nancy Jecker and Vice President Vardit Ravitsky said it was mandatory for all potential conference hosts to commit to providing a conference venue where bioethics can be freely discussed in an atmosphere of mutual respect. .

However, the IAB does not require a host country government to be democratic. If we did, almost 39% of countries would not be eligible, they both added.

In their response, they expressed their positive welcome to Qatar’s hosting of the event, seeing it as an opportunity to integrate diverse perspectives into the global discourse on bioethics.

Ghaly agreed and said that was precisely the main focus of the event.

We need to diversify the field of bioethics and enrich it with ideas from various religious traditions, he said.

It is also a learning moment for us to know how scientists from other regions approach bioethical concerns. This is how bioethical discourse can be truly global.

Since winning the bid to host the World Cup in 2010, Qatar has found itself in the international spotlight, with relentless and unprecedented waves of scrutiny, particularly from the West, on the conditions of migrant workers.

Months before the World Cup, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, took aim at unfair criticism of the Gulf state during a speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, in which he exploited the attacks launched against the Gulf State. for being the first in the Middle East to host the major sporting event.

For decades, the Middle East has suffered from discrimination. And I found that such discrimination is largely based on people not knowing us and in some cases refusing to know us, said Sheikh Tamim.

Qatari authorities at the time said criticism continued despite the rollout of historic reforms to address concerns and ensure workers’ rights are respected and upheld.

Some of the reforms included dismantling the controversial Kafala system which prevented workers from freely changing jobs. Another included the introduction of the region’s first-ever non-discriminatory minimum wage law.

Ahead of the sporting event in Qatar, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the Gulf state had undergone a significant transformation since being awarded the hosting rights for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, accomplishing in a few years what took centuries in Europe.

It took us hundreds of years in Europe to get to where we are now in this part of the world, in Qatar it was done in a few years, so clearly at the beginning we need time to assess it, he said in June. Last year.

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