Kane calls for a look at issues in Qatar

LONDON • England's players will aim to use their platform to shine a light on human rights issues surrounding this year's World Cup in Qatar, captain Harry Kane said on Wednesday.

Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar while a report by Amnesty International found that in the run-up to the quadrennial football tournament, thousands of migrant workers in the country were being exploited, which Qatar has denied.

England, who have already qualified for the World Cup, will play friendlies against Switzerland and Ivory Coast this month and Kane said the squad met on Tuesday to discuss the issues ahead of the Nov 21-Dec 18 showpiece event.

"We've never shied away from important issues, and we've always had our opinions and tried to show unity in anything we've done. That's what will happen now over this camp and the next camp to try to help in any way we can," the Tottenham striker added.

"As players, we didn't choose where this World Cup was going to be. But what it has done is it has shone a light on important issues which might not have come to light if the World Cup wasn't there.

"We have to try to help as much as possible to understand the issues and the situations. We're no experts in that field at the moment in terms of what we know but as always we try to... use our platform to help in any way we can."

Another non-governmental organisation, Human Rights Watch, has said Qatari laws discriminate against women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, while a 48-page report by Amnesty International claimed that practices such as withholding migrant workers' salaries and charging them for changing jobs were still rife.

The Qatari government has defended itself against the allegations and said that its labour system is a "work in progress".

Earlier this week, England manager Gareth Southgate said he was unhappy some fans would not feel free to travel to Qatar due to concerns over those issues.

On safety fears for more vulnerable members of society, Kane added that he and his teammates would discuss the issues in greater depth and suggested he could speak to other national team captains to take a unified stance.

"As a nation, we want our fans to enjoy the tournament as much as we hopefully enjoy the tournament," the 28-year-old said. "We want them to feel safe and free to watch the games how they please and act how they want to act.

"There's still a lot of progress to be made. But hopefully all of us... can try to make change with the platforms that we have."

England host Switzerland tomorrow before playing Ivory Coast in another friendly three days later.

Separately, Egypt captain Mohamed Salah has vowed to avenge last month's Africa Cup of Nations final loss to a Sadio Mane-inspired Senegal when they clash again today in a 2022 World Cup play-off.

Egypt host the first leg before travelling to face Senegal away, with the aggregate winners filling one of five spots for Africa at the 32-nation Finals in Qatar.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS