“The awarding of the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia (…) will have a human cost”believes Steve Cockburn, head of Amnesty International’s Labor Rights and Sport program. “Fans will be discriminated against, residents will be forcibly evicted, migrant workers will be exploited and many will die”. Amnesty International and the Sport & Rights Alliance (SRA) call on the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to“interrupt” Saudi Arabia’s selection process as host of the 2034 FIFA World Cup, in a statement released this Sunday. The vote of FIFA members is scheduled for December 11 during an extraordinary congress of the world football body.
“FIFA must halt the process until adequate human rights protections are in place”continues Steve Cockburn. In anticipation of the 2034 World Cup, Saudi Arabia is planning the construction or renovation of 11 stadiums, the construction of more than 185,000 hotel rooms, as well as gigantic infrastructure projects linked to transport, in particular. The Saudi regime also plans to build new cities.
To carry out these major works, Riyadh will need a significant foreign workforce. “However, it has still not made a commitment to reform the sponsorship system (kafala) which exploits workers in the country, to set a minimum wage for non-citizens, to authorize them to join unions or adopt new measures aimed at preventing deaths at work”souligne Steve Cockburn.
“FIFA did not deign to respond”
After the controversies during the 2018 World Cup in Russia and in Qatar in 2022, FIFA for the first time introduced human rights criteria in its selection process for the men’s World Cup. But the NGOs believe that the procedure for applying today is “biased“. “FIFA has undermined its power” with the unique application for each tournament. “We provided our report in June. FIFA did not deign to respond, so we can question the seriousness of their commitment,” challenged the president of Amnesty International France, Anne Savinel-Barras.
“FIFA has long claimed to take human rights standards into account when it selects World Cup host countries and organizes its flagship tournaments. Unless it is honest about the scale and severity of the future risks and acts to prevent them, it will be clear that its commitment to human rights is nothing but a sham”, said Andrea Florence, director of the Sports & Rights Alliance.
The 2030 World Cup is also in the sights of NGOs. FIFA must “condition the attribution of the 2030 World Cup to Morocco, Portugal and Spain”who propose a joint candidacy, “to develop a much more credible strategy in terms of fundamental rights” and demand “binding commitments”, souligne Steve Cockburn. “Morocco, Portugal and Spain must take their human rights responsibilities much more seriously.” Protection of players and supporters against discriminatory violations, police violence, residents’ housing rights… NGOs had already highlighted these risks in a report published in June 2024.
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