/21/22 /21/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from cairo, egypt, this is democracy now! >> we need to drastically reduce emissions now. i find for loss and damage is essential.

am the u.n. imate summit has ended with rich countries agreeing to establish a loss and damage fund to help the global south deal with the worst effects of the climate catastrophe, but delegates at cop27 failed to agree on any steps to phase out fossil fus. we will get the latest. then we go to colorado springs where a gunman opened fire at an lgbtq nightclub, killing five people and injuring 25 on saturday night. the shooting occurred on the eve of transgender day of remembrance. >> this is our only safe space. for this to get shot up, what are we going to do now? where are we going to go? what about those people who lost their lives for no reason? amy: plus, the world cup has begun in the gulf state of qatar.

we will speak with human rights watch aboutq's human rights record. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from cairo, egypt. in sharm el sheikh, delegates at the u.n. climate conference agreed on sunday to establish a landmark loss and damage fund to help the global south deal with the worst effects of the climate catastrophe, largely caused by rich countries. the u.s., historically the world's worst polluter, was the last major holdout on the idea bere finally agreeing to the fund on saturday.

but it's unclear how these commitments will be enforced. in the u.s such fus would need to appropriated by a now-split congss. meanwhile, activists, the u.n., and vulnerable nations have condemned the lack of action on lowering emissions in order to reach the goal of keeping global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels. this is alok sharma, president of last year's cop26, speaking sunday. >> mission speaking before 2025. clear follow-through on the phasedown of coal, not in this text. clear commitment to phase out all fossil fuels, not in this text. and the energy text weakened in the final minutes. friends, i set in glasgow 1.5

degrees was weak. unfortunately, he remains on life support. amy: we will have more on the cop27 agreement after headlines. in colorado, a gunman shot and killed five people at an lgbtq nightclub in colorado springs just before midnight saturday. at least two dozen others were injured. police said at least one person inside club q confronted the shooter, likely preventing further bloodshed. among the victims, 40-year-old kelly loving, a trans woman visiting from denver, and club q workers derrick rump and daniel davis aston, a trans man. police have taken a 22-year-old suspect into custody. this is joshua thurman, a survivor of the massacre. >> heard them saying check certain people because they are critical. we heard everything.

all i could think about is everything. my life. just everything. friends, family, loved ones. i came here to celebrate my birthday. honestly, i was supposed to be in denver but i came back a day early. amy: community members gathered at a memorial near the night club on sunday. sunday also marked transnder day of remembrance. we'll have mo on this story later in the broadcast. president volodymyr zelenskyy said authorities recorded 400 shellings in eastern ukraine sunday with the donetsk region bearing the heaviest attacks. on saturday, a series of powerful explosions near the russian-occupied zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant prompted the head of the u.n. nuclear watchdog rafael grossi to make an urgent plea to stop fighting in the region, "you're playing with fire!" warned grossi.

in indonesia, at least 56 people are dead and hundreds injured after an earthquake struck west java province earlier today. rescue teams are still searching for people trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings. many areas are also facing power outages. china reported three covid-19 deaths in beijing since saturday, the nation's first deaths linked to the coronavirus in six months, as officials warn beijing is facing its worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic. this comes as china's strict zero-covid policy has triggered rare public protests. meanwhile, in the u.s., los angeles county is advising residents to once again start masking indoors amid rising cases. covid-19 is still causing an average of close-to-300 daily deaths in the united states. the 2022 fifa world cup soccer tournament got underway in qatar

sunday after a flashy opening ceremony in the capital city doha. in the opening match, ecuador defeated qatar's national team 2-to-0. this year's world cup has been marred by revelations that thousands of migrant workers have faced serious labor and human rights abuses as they worked to build stadiu and other infrastructure for qatar ahead of the games. meanwhile, the captain of iran's national team has spoken out in support of iranians protesting back home. ehsan hajsafi spoke to reporters in qatar on sunday ahead of his team's match against england today. >> we have to accept the conditions in our country are not right in our people are not happy. i hope conditions change to meet the expectations of the people and they become happy, all of them. the situation in the country is not great in the team knows this.

amy: we will have more on the world cup later in the broadcast. in iran, two of the nation's most prominent actresses were arrested on sunday after they voiced support for anti-government protests and appeared in public without wearing a hijab as required by law. ahead of her arrest on sunday, hengameh ghaziani wrote, "whatever happens, know that as always i will stand with the people of iran. this may be my last post," she added. katayoun riahi was also arrested and accused of acting against iran's authorities. meanwhile, unicef says it is deeply concerned by reports of children being killed, injured, and detained in iran during recent anti-government protests. according to the organization human rights activists in iran, 46 boys and 12 girls have been killed since the protests first erupted in mid-september. some of the children were as young as eight years old.

in syria, at least 31 people were killed, including a journalist and 10 other civilians, as turkey's military launed a series of weekend airstrikesargeting kurdish militias. turkey's government called the attacks an act of self-defense after it blamed the banned kurdistan workers' party for an explosion in istanbul that killed six people on november 13. earlier today, three people were reportedly killed and 10 others wounded in a turkish border town after rockets fired from a kurdish-controlled region struck a high school and two houses. turkey's government pledged to respond to the attacks in the strongest way possible. elon musk has restored donald trump's twitter account after conducting a twitter poll to determine whether the banned -- the former president should be allowed back on the platform after was banned for inciting violence following the january 6 capitol for inciting violence.

on saturday, trump said he had no plans to return to twitter. another banned user, kanye west, also appears to have had his account restored. west was blocked last month, prior to musk's takeover, after posting anti-semitic tweets. it remains to be seen whether musk's latest moves will cause more of twitter's dwindling staff and advertisers to leave. u.s. attorney general merrick garland has named former justice department prosecutor jack smith to lead investigations into donald trump's role in the capitol insurrection, as well as whether trump mishandled classified materials. >> based on recent developments, including the former president's announcement he's a candidate for president in the next election in a sitting president stated intention to be a candidate as well, i have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint

special counsel. amy: special counsel jack smith also preously work at the u.s. attorney's office in new york and investigated and prosecuted war crimes and crimes agnst humani at the gue's international criminal court. in california, a federal judge sentenced theranos founder elizabeth holmes to 11 years in prison for defrauding investors in her blood testing company that falsely claimed its machines could run a wide range of diagnostic tests from a few drops of blood. holmes was declared the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire by forbes in 2014 but theranos started to crumble just a year later following an investigation by "the wall street journal." president biden and other g20 leaders are calling for more relationor bitcoin and yptocurrcies tensure glal finanal stabity folling the llapse ocrypto change cpany ftxast week

vestors ve sued sgraced ceo sam bankman-fried, as well as a number of celebrity endorsers including nfl star tom brady, comedian larry david, and tennis star naomi osaka. ftx owes its 50 largest creditors over $3 billion according to a bankruptcy filing, while one million or more people and businesses could be affected by its downfall. one of ftx's creditors, the ontario teachers' pension fund, was forced to write off its $95 million investment. the biden administtion asked the supreme court friday to allow its student debt relief program to go into effect as various legal challenges have put the plan on hold. on saturday, the education department started notifying some 16 million applicants they've been approved for up to

$20,000 in federal loan relief. in other supreme court news, a farmer antiabortion activist turned whistleblower has come forward to allege that justice samuel alito leaked the outcome of a landmark 2014 ruling weeks before the court's decision was made public. the whistleblower told "the new york times" will the conservative donor informed him about the yet to be decision -- published decision after they had dinner with the wife and the court was repairing to rule in favor of hobby lobby, a craft store chain, whose owners sought to deny birth control to workers citing religious freedom. shank said he share the information with the hobby lobby president and use the advanced knowledge to prepare a public relations campaign. in july, shank sent a letter to john roberts informing him of

the alleged 2014 hobby leak but received no reply. through spokesperson, samuel alito denied any involvement in licking the outcome of the ruling -- leaking the outcome of the ruling. the new york state education department has banned schools from using native american logos or imagery for their mascots unless they receive approval from a native american community. state schools that don't comply could face loss of funding. and in argentina, human rights icon hebe de bonafini died sunday at the age of 93. bonafini was one of the founders of the mothers of plaza de mayo in 1977 after two of her sons were disappeared by argentine security forces during the country's brutal u.s.-backed military dictatorship. bonafini and other mothers of the disappeared led frequent protts in buos aire' pla de mayo in defiance of the

dictatorship, wearing white scarves on their heads, which became a symbol of their struggle. in the decades that followed, they continued to fight for justice for the tens of thousands of people disappeared, tortured, and killed during argentina's "dirty war." in 2016, bonafini spoke as the mothers of the plaza de mayo held their 2000th march. >> i think there are no women li us in the world with the strength in our bellies and hearts and bodies with so much responsibility for our children whom we love and whom you to defend. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. today we are broadcasting from cairo, egypt. we just came from sharm el sheikh, egypt, where the two-week long u.n. climate summit ended on sunday. in a major breakthrough, rich

countries agreed to establish a lossnd damage nd to he the global south deal with the worst effects of the climate catastrophe, but delegates at cop27 failed to agree on any steps to phase out fossil fuels. nations in the global south and climate justice acvists have been demanding a loss and damage fund for the past 30 years but such a fund but the united states and other large polluting nations have largely opposed it. this is u.n. secretaryeneral antonio guterres speaking on sunday. >> we need to drastically reduce emissions now. in fund for loss and dage is essential it is not the aner if small island states are washed off the map.

redling mustot cross is when it takes our planet over 1.5 degrees temperature limit. we need to massively invest in renewables and end our addiction to fossil fuels. amy: we're are joined now from sharm el-sheikh by asad rehman, executive director of war on want and lead spokesperson for the climate justice coalition. welcome back to democracy now! we spoke to you last monday as the cop 27 negotiations were underway. now they have ended. can you talk about what has come of this? what do you think of the final cop 27 proposal? >> always a pleasure to join you. on the critical questions are we reducing harm? are we keeping temperatures well below 1.5 degree?

there was no progress. we did not see any mention of the equitable fossil fuels impact. we simply saw a repeat of what was in glasgow. any rich countries came to these climate negotiations, having expanded their own fossil fuels. united states come u.k., european union are all planning massive expansion of oil and gas and even incredibly cold. -- coal. science has told us we basically have to cut our missions. we have less than five to 10 years of the current if we want to limit [indiscernible] shockingly, the report says we've only produced emissions in terms [indiscernible]

we are so far off in terms of reducing the harm committed to -- to make matters worse, we also saw an sharm el-sheikh massive expansion of carbon market. a license for rich countries or corporations to pollute if somewhere else someone takes action. we simply don't have a budget for that. there is no transparency. it is a recipe for disaster. amy: so talk or about the loss and damage fund, that any kind of whether it is voluntary or not and what exactly is the role of the united states, the last

holdout. >> on the flipside, sing have to reduce harm, repair the harm already done, and then compensate people for the harm that can no longer be repaired. we could see that with the reality facing many, many countries who are not just facing a climate catastrophe, still recovering from covid pandemic [indiscernible] simply overwhelmed. the rich countries, led by the united states by backed also by the european union and the u.k., have long dragged their feet on the issue of loss and damages. it is been 30 years in the making. the 11th hour, finally dragged kicking and screaming to agree to the establishment of the fund.

no money was agreed and we still have to agree -- but it is a major step breakthrough. as a lifeline [indiscernible] what really matters how is will rich countries be that responsibility to the scale that is needed and will developing countries be able to access that to recognize the vulnerabilities we are seeing are now global and of course are compounded for many, many developing countries by structural ineality. amy: if you can talk more about the fact the wording was changed on fossil fuels from phasing out to phasing down and what practically that means in the world? >> from civil society organizations across -- we need

an equitable phaseout. fossil fuels are the core of greenhouse gas emissions. what is our plan to end our addiction to fossil fuels and how will it be done and adjust way? -- in a just way? rich countries have long block the idea of an equitable phaseout. what they want to concentrate on is coal. it is shocking president biden, for example, has authorized the expansion of fossil fuels that even donald trump did. we would not widely recognize that trump was a climate denier. [indiscernible] what we have seen also, because

of the pressure of the hundreds of fossil fuel lobbyists and many countries who are relying on fossil fuels for their own economic development, they began -- the language around fossil fuels. somehow we can remove the carbon around them, positioning gas as if it is clean energy resource rather than going [indiscernible] on renewable energy we know will be cleaner, fairer and is also cheap. amy: your final 32nd summary of wherwe are after 27 years of cop? >> on the critical issue of finance -- there is a positive

step about new finance laws in 2024. i would say there have been some major breakthroughs. the fact financial institutions like the emf and world bank have been talked about in the text, that we now have a program and just transition that includes -- that we need [indiscernible] the most important thing i to go in from sharm el-sheikh, combined with strong leadership, we can move things forward. we could have victory. we have to build more and more power. until we do, we cannot phase down fossil fuel governments. amy: asad rehman, thank you for being with us, executive

director of war on want and lead spokesperson for the climate justice coalition. let's end this segment with some of the climate activists were calling for loss and damage fund at cop 27. this is ron pedros with the asian people's movement on debt and development, which organized protest this past week. >> according to the world food program, currently we have almost one billion people who are hungry. the number of people who have no access to affordable food has grown from 135 million now 345 million in the last couple of

years. as governments gathered here today, [indiscernible] people are dying every second. we call on a number of speakers to tell their stories directly to this cop. >> i am bringing the voices of the people who i have been working with and those are women's groups and also farmers. you know about climate impacts. drought and flooding. not causing any co2 emissions but they are bearing the cost of climate impact.

the solutions is really a false solution. that may name a few. [indiscernible] those are supposed to be helping community's to survive on the ground that those falls solutions really putting more onto the local communities and farmers. >> we call on our speaker from africa, from friends of the art africa. >> what is happening in africa, people are dying because there is no more food. [indiscernible] take land from people, from small-scale farmers. people are dying from hunger. people are dying from floods and

droughts. it is not fair. >> thank you very much. i am here from ecuador. we have several problems with water because of at least two reasons. first of all, shrinking glaciers in the mountains. also we have mining companies affecting the water. 20 years ago, we started here together with other organizations asking the only solution assist -- is truly fossil fuels in the ground. at that time, everyone was thinking this woman, all these people are crazy. but now people are talking that is an important issue --

[indiscernible] it is a question to repair, to give climate debt for countries like ecuador. >> i belong to nepal where most of the people are sick -- agriculture for food, not profit. [indiscernible] ready to harvest rice which force them to take a loan to continue their livelihood for a year. this is what our communities are

facing. [indiscernible] you cannot survive only drinking oil. >> what we want? >> climate justice. >> wind we want that? >> now. america to see more of our coverage from cop u.n. climate summit, go to democracynow.org. coming up, we go to colorado springs where a gunman opened fire at an lgbtq nightclub, killing five and injuring 25 saturday night. the shooting occurred on the eve of transgender day of remembrance. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from cairo,

egypt, the going out to colorado, where a diamond wearing body armor and armed with an ar-15-style rifle shot and killed five people at an lgbtq+ nightclub in colorado springs just before midnight saturday. at least 25 people were injured. police are investigating the shooting at club q as a potential hate crime. three victims have been identified. kelly loving, a trans woman visiting from denver, and club q workers derrick rump and daniel davis aston, a trans man. the shooting occurred on the eve of transgender day of remembrance, a day to remember transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people who have been murdered as a result of transphobia. this is joshua thurman, a survivor of the massacre. >> as i was dancing on the dance floor, i heard shots fired.

i thought it was the music. there was no "help, help" or anything like that. then there were more shots. when i realized what was going on, i ran. there was a customer that followed me. it was a drag performer who was in the dressing room. i made them lock the doors and we got down on the floor and cut off the lights. >> joshua, what does this mean for the lgbtq community here in colorado springs? >> it is hard to say. it means so much because this is our only safe space here in the springs. for this to get shot up, like, what are we going to do now? where are we going to go? what about those people that lost their lives? the other 18 that were injured? i could have been one. it mns a lot because what we

going to do now? how are we going to feel safe in our city? >> this was your safe space? >> the only lgbtqia+ space in the entire city of colorado springs. it won awards, was in magazines. i got my start here. so many of my friends i have met here people i call loved ones and now it is shattered. america that is joshua thurman speaking to krdo. police have taken a 22-year-old suspect named anderson lee aldrich a city. at least one patron confronted the gunman and stopped the shooting. the suspected gunman was a last -- was arrested last year on lony menacing and kidnapping after threatening his mother with a homemade bomb. he is the grandson of calvin republican a subliminal ready vocal. we go now to denver where we are

joined by state representative leslie herod. she is also the first lgbtq+ african american to hold office in the colorado general assembly. representative herod attended high school in colorado springs and is running for the mayor of denver. she tweeted on sunday -- "waking up to news about another mass shooting -- this time in my hometown of colorado springs. club q is a place of refuge for so many, including myself. i am both devastated and infuriated." that is the words of state representative leslie herod who is joining us now. thank you so much. our condolences. can you talk about what is the latest, the effects on the community in colorado springs and what you want to happen now?

>> first of all, thank you for having me. i am sad it is under these circumstances. i just left the vigil in colorado springs yesterday. what i know is i know club q to be that place of refuge, connection for so many people that feel unconnected. what i want folks to understand is colorado springs is not a place of hate. it is a place of love. i saw so much love and support yesterday when i was down in the springs with the survivors, with the victims. folks went to people to know that. i was speaking to a young man who lost his partner in the shooting. while he was completely shaken and devastated, he came out for that embrace, for that support. and he got it. i think it is important we realize that. right now we're talking about what happened that night. we know there were two patrons at least that subdued the

gunman. if they had not risked their lives to save others, the tragedy would have been more widespread. we know more folks would have died if they did not take quick action. they are heroes. we need to lift them up. i am reminded these are folks who are shamed just for who they are, who they love, and how they present. they are shamed by elected officials, community leaders. just recently we had a very large nonprofit organization to tell people to hide who they are and not act on their gay urges if they wanted to stay working in that location. that is the rhetoric that people are up against every single day and it has got to stop. amy: this news that -- if this is the person who did it, he is the grandson of the california legislator who described the

january 6 insurrection as the lexington and concorde event. if you can talk more about what this community of violence is also about and how it must be confronted, as you describe people gathering around those that are suffering right now? >> it is clear why this person did this, why he went into an lgbtq club and sprayed bullets, mass destruction on people. it is because of the hate that we hear and the rhetoric we hear every single day and knowing he is connected to an extremist family is something i think we all must take note of that make no mistake anyone who turns on their twitter feed or social media feed every sile day can see this hate. yesterday i was targeted by organization online simply for supporting trans youth and their

families. i refused to stop. the hate will not make us go back into the shadows. make no mistake, there is a clear path and connection between the hateful rhetoric we hear from people and what we see today. we lift up folks like kyle rittenhouse and across the country people are praising him for murdering protesters, it is no surprise that we have more folks that want to go down in history for harming and killing people that have been dehumanized for who they love or what we stand up for. it has got to stop. we all have to stand up together and say this rhetoric has to stop. this using people as political fodder has to stop because it is killing people. am the colorado governor, the first openly gay man to be

governor elected and then reelected, addressed the memorial service yesterday. he also -- colorado is the 11th state to block the use of the controversial defense strategy called the gay panic events. as a colorado state legislator, leslie herod, can you talk about the battle for lgbtq rights and what is next on the agenda for colorado? >> absolutely. during the pandemic, i was a cosponsor of the bill that ended the gay panic defense, meaning, oh, i harmed them or kill them or be them because i found out they were gay and i went into a panic. that was a legal defense on the books here colorado and it is wrong. just because someone is gay or transgender, does not mean they should be targeted for hate and

then let off the hook. this battle for lgbtq equality has been a long fight battle. it was legal to discriminate against lgbtq people. since then, we have made a complete turnaround where we passed legislation affirming marriage, past benefits, and now we have a gay governor. lgbtq people are leading the way but that is not without backlash. that is not without folks coming continuously and bringing a just nation that is harmful to lgbtq communities saying it is ok to discriminate or harm people, saying it is ok specifically to target and bully lgbtq youth and say if their families are supporting them and are gender affirming, that they should be in jail. we see these types of bills and colorado all the time, we see them across the country.

there has been an increase. folks who think we will age our way out of homophobia and transphobia are wrong. this is being bred into our youngest people, a coat in the highest halls of power in our country saying we should discriminate, saying folks should be dehumanized simply for who they are. i have got to tell you, i'm still infuriated. i woke up yesterday infuriated and i am still today and i know colorado has much more work to do and it starts by protecting our transgender community because they are the ones under attack so much right now. and people excuse it every single day. amy: the congressman from colorado springs, republican doug lamborn, once pushed to defund pbs for airing an episode of the cartoon "arthur" that featured a same-sex marriage. >> yeah, exactly.

it is interesting to see these statements of support and prayers for folks with literally some of these people have been spewing the hate that made this a reality. spewing the hate that made folks think it was ok to target an lgbtq nightclub. and quite frankly, folks are forgetting about paul's, about matthew shepard, and we can't let that stop. in our schools, they wanted not teach about matthew shepard and his murder were teach about what happened at pusle. they want to put people in the shadows, make folks hide and ignore what truly happened to lgbtq people across the country. we are being targeted, attacked. all we want to do is live our lives as freely and openly as everyone else. i am proud to serve as an lgbtq elected official but i have to

tell you, when we are not at the table, the rhetoric, the hate rises to the top. the hate every single day by our colleagues and members is infuriating. you can imagine what our youngest people are going through. young people celebrating who they are. there performing in drag. their beautiful, glorious. right now they are being attacked and their parents are being attacked simply for living their lives. it is wrong. amy: i want to talk more about drag queen events that have faced online hate and protest, including one planned at denver botanic garden in june during pride month that was canceled. do you believe the hateful backlash might have contributed

to the violence and depravity what happened on saturday night in colorado springs? >> of course. of course they are related. there is a straight line between those types of actions, those types of threats -- literal threats against people who are just going for story time drag queen celebration and a trench transgender day of remembrance. because they go unanswered, because we don't see any type of follow-up or prosecution, because we're not holding people accountable, then it just continues. every day there's a hate crime in colorado and across this country that is either unreported or underreported. we are still not even calling this a hate crime when it happened in colorado springs. i don't know why we have to wait.

this was an act of hate, tear, and intentional act to push lgbtq people back in the shadows, to make them feel unsafe in one of the few places we actually do feel safe and loved and supported. it is wrong. as i listen to the intro, i sympathize with the patron who talked about how can we feel safe again and this place? it is going to be hard but i encourage us all to go out and be ourselves, to be out and proud of who we are and to say we're not going away just because of this hate. but we need allies. we need are champions to stand up. we cannot let this go unanswered. amy: let's not forget if in fact this person is the same one who threaten his mother with a bomb, so often these mass shootings are linked to violence against women that occur -- that occurred before. leslie herod, currently a colorado state representative for the eighth district, the

lgbtq+ african american to hold first office in the colorado general assembly. attended high school in colorado springs. calls it her hometown. we thank you so much for being there. next up, we go to the world cup which is beginning in the country of qatar. we will speak to human rights watch about qatar's human rights record. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from cairo, egypt, after the u.n. climate summit and sharm el-sheikh but we're going to look now at the 2022 world cup that started in qatar with fans attending the soccer or football tournament. the first time they will be played in winter. qatar is the first country in the middle east to host the world cup. it won its bid to host the games a decade ago in december 2010, shortly before the arab spring

protests erupted. the small nation draws its wealth from sales of liquified natural gas and hosts the forward headquarters of the u.s. military central command. today the teams of england, wales, belgium, denmark, germany, the netherlands, and switzerland announced that their captains will not wear armbands during the world cup games in support of lgbtq rights after organizer fifa announced players who wear the bands will be sanctioned. homosexuality is illegal in qatar and human rights watch found that as recently as september, qatari security forces had arrested and abused lgbt people in detention. this comes as qatar and fifa have faced years of protests over conditions faced by migrant workers subjected to forced labor to build its stadiums. on saturday, fifa president gianni infantino opened a news conference in doha, qatar with a stunning hour-long monologue. >> today i feel qatari.

today i feel arab. today i feel african. today i feel disabled. today i feel a migra worker. amy: that's fifa president . yeses said there would be a fund to, those who faced abuse and even death while building world cup stadiums. this is a migrant worker

featured by human rights watch. >> there was nothing. there wasn't even a single building. now there are towers everywhere. we built those towers. in the heat we worked with face covers. we were drenched in sweat. we poured water sweat from our shoes. even in that heat, we worked hard. my son did not recognize me when i first came from qatar to nepal. my sense name is to play football. i watched him play for little bit. i met my son only five times in the 14 years i was away. ice to cry and feel bad i had to stay away from my children a for work. amy: a multi-country investigation by the guardian

cooks my husband used to work as a driver. used to come from too much every two years. this time only his dead body came four years after. he used to say i will work here until i can. we have loans we need to repay. my husband was my source of support stop without him, do i rely on you, i sit and cry on my own. whom can i show my tears too? amy: for more, we're joined by minky worden, director of global initiatives at human rights watch. researching human rights she has been violations around

the world cup. >> fans of all or soccer absolutely cannot forget the high human cost to deliver this world cup and it takes place against a backdrop of completely unacceptable this coming nation against lgbt people, lack of protections for women's rights -- qatar has a male guardianship system -- and a lack of press freedoms to investigate migrant labor abuses. you mentioned at the outset fifa has committed to a legacy fund. there is no indication right now that legacy fund will actually go to the thousands -- of the families of thousands of migrant workers who lost their lives to deliver this world cup. amy: so talk about what you understand -- how the system works from 2010-20 20, something

like 6500 workers died in qatar, not necessarily all building the stadium spent many. explain what the illegal loans and debt bondage system for workers in qatar is and why qatar said they changed their system. >> qatar has passed some modern labor laws but they have not gotten rid of the cobol system which was in place in 2010 when fifa awarded the world cup to qatar and has continued through to today. what this is is a system of modern-day slavery. it has features like in the case of any workers, they had to take out loans to work in qatar. these could be loans anywhere from $700 to 4000 u.s. dollars, but that would be a crushing loan you would have to work in some cases for years to repay. some of the saddest cases human

rights watch has seen our families where the main breadwinner, a young man went to qatar and took out a loan to work there. worked in debt bondage. when she did not receive -- when he did not receive his wages and his body was returned in a coffin. these are utterly preventable labor rights abuses. the reason this has happened is in 2010 and still today, there are no trade unions. trade unions for migrant workers are illegal. and also there is no striking. it is illegal to strike. even if you are working and deadly conditions, if you think you're going to have a heart attack or you are experiencing heat stress from working in more than 120 degrees fahrenheit, even if you're working and dangerous and deadly conditions, there is no ability if you are a migrant worker in qatar to

strike for your basic human rights. amy: the government of qatar has refused to do autopsies on workers who die as they are working? >> yeah. it is difficult to understand how there could be thousands of deaths and how they could not be well documented. but we understand the system of labor exploitation that was present in qatar, it is very easy to understand. there was a workforce at any given time of julian margaret laborers and the population is about 250,000 or 300,000. that leaves 90% to let 95% being migrant workers. they're coming from some of the world's poorest countries. these are migrant workers who are leaving home for years at a time to make a better future for their children. but once they arrive, they find they are in control of the sponsoring company, which is

exploiting them. there is really -- many of the workers have described to us or he as you saw in the video, they're working in deadly conditions but there is no way to protest and there is no way out. amy: the fifa president who opened the saturday news conference with a stunning hour-long monologue said qatar, suffering migrants the opportunity to apply -- to provide for the families where europe has closed its borders. if you could talk about this and why the oil-rich country could not afford to pay living wages to its workers? >> the last question first, the system that was in place -- so there was an absolute concentration, unprecedented concentration of instruction to build this world cup that started in 2010. those companies -- remember, migrant workers had no basic human rights -- those qatari

companies were competing against each other for the lowest cost. i think every country can do a better job of respecting the rights of migrant workers but never before have we seen such a concentration of construction. to be clear, this is at least $220 billion of construction. so eight news stadiums where they previously did not exist in the desert. hundreds of miles of railways, highways, hundreds of new hotels, office towers. so the construction was unprecedented for this world cup. you can broadly call it infrastructure. the situation for migrant workers was a really were desperate to earn money and once they were there had in some cas we documented families -- the workers begged the sponsors to send them home.

amy: we want to thank you for being with us. we will continue to cover this minky worden story. minky worden minky worden is director of global initiatives at human rights watch. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

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