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≡ FIFA WORLD CUP ≡
“We strongly oppose FIFA’s plans to award the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s uncontested bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, and we urge you to seek out a host country with a record of upholding human rights. Approving Saudi Arabia’s bid this December endangers workers, athletes, tourists, and members of the press, and it runs counter to FIFA’s own human rights policies. Given the high stakes and scope of these games, FIFA cannot accept any assurances offered by the Saudi government nor aid the Saudi government in its effort to sportswash its bloody record.”
That’s the opening of a two-page letter sent by United States Senators Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) to FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) in advance of the official selection of Saudi Arabia to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup on 11 December. It continued:
“The Saudi regime has long violated human rights and has made no progress toward meaningful reform and accountability. The Kingdom continues to torture dissidents, engage in extrajudicial killings, discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, oppress women and religious minorities, exploit and abuse foreign workers, and restrict almost all political rights and civil liberties. In fact, Saudi Arabia hit a new record high in annual executions this year. Further, the Saudi government has continued to crack down on media, labor unions, civil societies, and more. If Saudi Arabia assumes the responsibilities of hosting the World Cup, these human rights abuses are sure to escalate throughout the planning, execution, and conclusion of the tournament.”
The letter also castigated FIFA for its choice of Qatar to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup:
“FIFA knows firsthand what is at stake hosting the World Cup in countries without a
demonstrated commitment to human rights. In the lead up to the 2022 Qatar World Cup, scores of domestic and migrant laborers worked in egregious conditions on tournament-related projects, resulting in widespread wage theft and a high death toll. Despite numerous workers and civil society groups issuing warnings, FIFA could not curb these abuses or adequately remedy harm.
“Similarly, FIFA could not ensure the safety of the LGBTQ+ community, women, and journalists in Qatar. For example, Qatari officials detained journalists ahead of the tournament. These experiences in Qatar clearly demonstrate that promises of reform and accountability in bidding documents by repressive regimes do not actually ensure compliance with human rights and labor laws at the tournaments. These experiences also raise serious concerns about FIFA’s ability to mitigate harm once planning is underway for the games. The Saudis have put forward an ambitious proposal to host 48 teams through 15 state-of-the-art stadiums across five cities for World Cup 2034 with no sincere intention of upholding human rights.
“While FIFA appears poised to confirm Saudi Arabia’s bid on December 11, your organization has a responsibility to uphold and promote human rights. We strongly urge FIFA to take all steps necessary to thoroughly re-evaluate Saudi Arabia’s ill-equipped World Cup bid ahead of December and select a rights-respecting host country for World Cup 2034.”
FIFA President Infantino famously defended FIFA’s selection of Qatar for the 2022 World Cup in a stunning news conference on 19 November 2022, beginning with:
“Today, I feel Qatari. Today, I feel Arab. Today, I feel African. Today, I feel gay. Today, I feel disabled. Today, I feel a migrant worker.”
Across 37 minutes of remarks, Infantino blasted the assembled news media for their negative reporting on having the World Cup in Qatar, including:
● “So I wonder why nobody recognized the progress that has been made, since 2016. The kafala system was abolished, minimum wages were introduced, heat protection measures were taken. ILO [International Labor Organization], international unions acknowledge that, but media don’t, or some don’t.”
● “So we have been seeing [1] there is a permanent office of ILO, or there will be – and we will be back, we will be here to check, don’t worry, because you will be gone – [2] compensation for workers who are not paid or who have accidents, exists, in very significant amounts, and [3] FIFA has a legacy fund for this World Cup.”
His address was bitterly attacked by media attending as well as human rights organizations, but the tournament that followed was one of the most memorable in history.
The choice of Saudi Arabia is being similarly criticized, but FIFA is expected to approve Saudi Arabia as the 2034 World Cup host without incident on 11 December.
¶
In a clearly-related announcement on Wednesday, FIFA announced a $50 million contribution to the FIFA World Cup 2022 Legacy Fund – a concept first installed for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and continued in Brazil in 2014 and Russia in 2018 – to be used for four initiatives, three of which are with major international partners:
● Refugees: In partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, “the Legacy Fund will support programmes that empower communities and promote resilience and self-sufficiency for some of the world’s most vulnerable people with a view to enhancing access to basic services, improving social inclusion and strengthening national systems.”
● Public Health and Occupational Health and Safety: In partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), “the Legacy Fund will foster initiatives that will build on the role played by the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 for promotion of health and wellbeing and will extend to improving working conditions. FIFA will join forces with WHO to support Beat the Heat, a flagship initiative to mount action to safeguard the health and safety of high-risk individuals from extreme heat and the related occupational and environmental hazards and impacts in the context of climate change.”
● Education: Working with the World Trade Organization and the International Trade Centre, “FIFA will support the Women Exporters in the Digital Economy Fund, which aims to economically empower women entrepreneurs by leveraging the potential of digitalisation to help them access global value chains.”
● Football: The Qatari Aspire Academy and the FIFA Talent Development Scheme “will collaborate in identifying promising young talents in remote areas in a dedicated number of developing countries, with the objective of giving more talent around the world a chance to shine.”
This new funding from FIFA was immediately blasted by Amnesty International, whose statement included, “It is shameful that FIFA and Qatar have launched their long-awaited legacy fund without any recognition of their clear responsibility towards the vast number of migrant workers who were exploited and, in many cases, died to make the 2022 World Cup possible. While providing money to global efforts to support refugees and protect workers from the impacts of extreme heat is important, the fund currently does absolutely nothing for the families who lost loved ones in Qatar and were plunged into poverty as a result.”
The choice of Saudi Arabia for the 2034 FIFA World Cup is sure to continue the criticism that accompanied the choice of Qatar for the 2018 event. But Infantino will be at the ready with his own view, and will point out that his promise of a legacy fund has come to pass, and that the promised ILO office in Qatar was, in fact, opened in 2018.
Let’s see what happens in Saudi Arabia, a country which appears to be in a transitional phase, but with no clear end result for the end of this decade, or by 2034.
¶
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