A 91-page report from Amnesty and Sports and Rights Alliance (SRA) recently highlighted the potential risks of human rights violations in the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cups.
Votes are due to be held at the FIFA Congress next month to approve the 2030 and 2034 World Cups, though each has only a single bid. A combined bid of Morocco, Spain and Portugal is the sole bid for 2030, while Saudi Arabia is the lone bidder for 2034.
According to Amnesty International and SRA, FIFA should halt the process of giving the World Cup to Saudi Arabia. The report has stated that neither set of bidders for World Cup 2030 and 2034 have adequately outlined how they would meet the human rights criteria nor meaningfully consulted human rights organisations, specifically focusing on the risks in Saudi Arabia, as they are so high that it could lead to “severe and widespread human rights violations.”
The report also recommended FIFA only award the World Cup 2030 to Morocco, Spain and Portugal on a conditional basis of credible human rights strategy.
“Morocco, Portugal and Spain must take their human rights responsibilities far more seriously,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty’s head of labour rights and sport. “The 2030 World Cup could provide an opportunity to strengthen human rights protections in all three countries, but only if governments and football associations are prepared to work closely with fans, human rights organizations, trade unions and other impacted groups to do so.”
2034 Bid Book
A major cause for concern has been whether LGBTQ people will be discriminated against in the Kingdom, where people can be sentenced to death if it is proved that they have engaged in same-sex sexual acts.
Hammad Albalawi, head of Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid unit, said in September that LGBTQ fans were welcome and their privacy would be respected, pointing to the millions of fans who had travelled to the country for sporting events in recent years.
Saudi Arabia’s 2034 Bid Book also outlined ambitious plans to build and renovate 11 stadiums, with over 185,000 additional hotel rooms and large infrastructural projects to connect to new cities.
“Saudi Arabia will require a vast number of migrant workers to deliver its World Cup ambitions, yet there are no commitments to reform the country’s exploitative ‘Kafala’ sponsorship system, establish a minimum wage for non-citizens, permit them to join trade unions or introduce new measures to prevent worker deaths,” Cockburn said.
“There will be a real and predictable human cost to awarding the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia without obtaining credible guarantees of reform. Fans will face discrimination, residents will be forcibly evicted, migrant workers will face exploitation, and many will die,” he added.
“Unless FIFA is honest about the scale and severity of the risks ahead and acts to prevent them, it will be clear that its commitment to human rights is a sham,” Andrea Florence, Director of Sports and Rights Alliance, stated.
“FIFA was the first global sports body to introduce human rights criteria in its selection process for a mega-sporting event, so it would be shocking to see the organization now completely jettison these principles in favour of its bottom line,” Florence added.
FIFA said the bid evaluation reports for the 2030 and 2034 World Cup would be published ahead of its extraordinary Congress on Dec. 11. “FIFA is implementing thorough bidding processes for the 2030 and 2034 editions of the FIFA World Cup,” a FIFA spokesperson said.
– With Reuters inputs
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