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‘Hard to believe’
Alex Oliver, research director at the Lowe Institute in Sydney, believes that Australians, especially women, can “avoid Qatar Airways” after the accident.
“This is a horrible move by a country that has spent billions of state money in an effort to project an image of a more liberal Gulf state,” Oliver says.
Qatar has repeatedly tried to contain public relations crises and its image in recent years linked to its sudden and “suspicious” victory in the organization of the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
The Gulf emirate faced intense scrutiny from human rights organizations regarding its treatment of foreign workers working on construction projects before the start of the World Cup.
Human Rights Watch confirmed that large foreign workers in Qatar have been exploited by employers who withhold wages and threaten to evict and cut them, leaving some workers unable to buy food.
The report quoted a Ugandan security guard as saying that he only received his salary of $ 329 for a month between September and December 2019.
“Do you think this money is enough to survive in Qatar for a month? Not true. I’m starving, my family is starving,” says the Ugandan worker.
Qatar has also faced criticism for its laws criminalizing homosexuality, and activists in the Gulf emirate are calling for the decriminalization of cases involving out-of-wedlock pregnancy and childbirth without medical assistance.
Human Rights Watch said that “Qatar should look at the policy that led to this,” that is, leaving the child in the toilet.
The Qatari government has yet to address the airport issue, despite an irate reaction from Australian Foreign Minister Maryse Payne, who condemned the incident as “extremely disturbing and humiliating events … I had never heard of something like that in my life. “
“We have clearly communicated our concerns to the Qatari authorities at this stage,” he said, adding that the matter had also been referred to the Australian Federal Police.
On Sunday night, the Doha airport launched a call asking the boy’s mother to contact him, stating that the inspection carried out did not yield conclusive results.
The airport statement indicated that the identity of the newborn is not yet known, but that he is receiving care from the medical and social teams, calling all people with information about the incident to contact the authorities.
Gil believed that it was not enough for the airport administration to reduce the impact of what happened and allege that she asked the women to help her reach the mother of the baby.
“Most likely this could inflame the issue by suggesting that women did it voluntarily. I find this hard to believe,” he said.
Oliver confirmed that he was surprised that the answer was “very rigid”, which contradicts the aspirations of a country interested in its international image.
The airport incident angered and shocked foreign women in Doha.
A woman living in the Qatari capital, who refused to reveal her name for fear of prosecution, said: “I can’t stop thinking about my daughters if they were on this plane,” adding that “this matter is disgusting. I feel betrayed by a country that I call home. “
