Qatar dictatorship’s police trained in Britain

This video is called Exploited and struggling to survive in Qatar.

By Luke James in Britain:

Saturday 31st May 2014

MANCHESTER Metropolitan University said yesterday that staff will not be forced to deliver training to Qatari police after concerns were raised at UCU congress over the country’s human rights record.

The university offered the safeguard after LGBT lecturers condemned the link-up at their union’s conference.

Qatari police uphold laws against male homosexuality, which is punished by flogging, imprisonment, deportation and death, Manchester Met delegate Pura Ariza pointed out.

She told conference how they will benefit from training from British police experts as part of the country’s preparation for the 2022 World Cup.

The union rep said a number of staff have told her they will refuse to work with Qatar‘s new police college and appealed for colleagues to support their stand.

She said: “I want to be able to go back to those members and say if you refuse to work with an organisation that is overtly perpetrating human rights abuses then your union will support you in that.”

After delegates backed her call, a Manchester Metropolitan University spokesman told the Star that “no member of staff will be required to deliver training if they do not wish to do so.”

The assurance is offered after it was revealed last month that the university signed a “memorandum of understanding” to work with the Qatari state.

Students at Qatar‘s new police college will receive training from university researchers, Greater Manchester Police officers and experts from Britain’s National College of Policing.

They will be trained in tactics, receive English language lessons and undertake placements in Britain.

The Manchester Met spokesman said: “All our work is designed to improve and positively influence policing internationally.”

UCU welcomed news that management have heeded their refusal to play a part in the scheme.

But Ms Ariza said the university’s involvement with the Qatari police left it “complicit” in the human rights abuses it has perpetrated.

“This is a gross assault on equality and what we mean by education,” she said, “when you’re selling out the soul of education to the highest bidder in this way.”

FIFA might reconsider its decision to host the World Cup in Qatar.

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