November 8 – Following in the footsteps of a clamour of rights groups, Human Rights Watch has warned that a 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia risks widespread labour abuse.
“Saudi Arabia’s FIFA World Cup hosting documents ignore the country’s egregious human rights violations, including inadequate heat protections, unchecked wage theft, the ban on labour unions and an abusive kafala labour system,” said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch.
“FIFA is wilfully blind to the country’s human rights record, setting up a decade of potentially horrific human rights abuses preparing for the 2034 World Cup.”
Eleven rights groups previously singled out the legal assessment by law firm Clifford Chance of Saudi Arabia’s 2034 World Cup human rights policy as ‘flawed’. They argue that FIFA and Saudi Arabia restricted the scope of the assessment, excluding human rights enshrined in global treaties.
“Not a single migrant worker, victim of human rights crimes, torture survivor, jailed women’s rights advocate, or Saudi civil society member was consulted for FIFA’s supposedly independent report,” said Worden.
“FIFA’s treatment of the Saudi bid is an abysmal failure to implement mandatory human rights risk assessments and protections for the millions of migrant workers who are going to make the 2034 World Cup possible.”
Human Rights Watch highlights that the bulk of the infrastructure work, including building new stadiums, rail and road facilities as well as the megaproject of Neom, will fall on the back of migrant workers. Such a scenario would likely be a repeat of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“Despite the indispensable role of migrant workers for the 2034 World Cup, the government’s bid documents fail to meaningfully prioritize key labour protections,” writes Human Rights Watch.
The organisation warns that FIFA will be violating its own rules by eliminating proper due diligence. In December, Zurich is expected to award Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup. “Without proper human rights due diligence and binding labour and human rights commitments from Saudi authorities, FIFA should not move forward with a vote to confirm Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 World Cup,” said Worden.
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