Qatar made acheievemtns in the most difficult times, says FIFA security director

A senior FIFA official has hailed Qatar saying FIFA's human rights requirements have been integrated with the work mechanisms of the tournament's Security and Safety Operations Committee. “There is a full engagement with the FIFA security team and the security and safety plans for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 have been approved and shared with main stakeholders” said Director of Safety, Security and Access at FIFA, Helmut Spahn. He was addressing the opening ceremony of the Last Mile Conference.He said that the level of integration and partnership has been achieved by the Security and Safety Operations Committee (SSOC) of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. “This puts the FIFA in a position of comfort and reassurance that the preparations will lead us to organize a distinguished tournament. Qatar has spared no effort in the field of international cooperation, which the FIFA has been keen to support from the beginning. Among the achievements of the SSOC are International Police Cooperation Centre, which was established for previous FIFA events; data-sharing agreements with the aim of preventing hooligans from entering the country, partnerships for training and capacity building and signing of many memoranda of understanding with Interpol, Europol, the European Union and many other agencies,” he said.He added that all these achievements were accomplished in the most difficult times that the region went through, which is considered a great achievement that deserves to be commended. “Qatar, despite that, remained one of the safest countries in the world. With the efforts made by Qatar in the areas of planning, FIFA is confident of achieving a safe and secure tournament that reflects a real level of security for all participants,” he said. Stressing on the participation of the FIFA as the organiser of the game, in a large way in preparing for this tournament in Qatar, he said FIFA has been associated with the tournament's Security and Safety Operations Committee (formerly called the Security Committee) since the inception of the Committee in 2012. He praised the teamwork, hard work and tireless efforts made by Qatar and the tournament's Security and Safety Operations Committee. “This achievement would not have been achieved without the high level of preparedness from the authorities in the State of Qatar, and without the collective work with the international bodies responsible for law enforcement,” he said.