November 28 – FIFA has launched a $50 million legacy fund for social programmes in collaboration with 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. However, the elephant in the room remains whether FIFA will establish a compensation mechanism for migrant workers?
In 2022, the world federation promised a legacy fund from the 2022 World Cup that would benefit “some of the most vulnerable people in the world”. At the time, FIFA president Gianni Infantino also invited external investors to step forward.
“FIFA is taking the concept of a legacy fund to the next level in terms of reach and impact by tackling key priorities such as refugees, occupational health, education, and football development,” said Infantino.
The new legacy fund represents around one percent of the commercial revenue that the last World Cup generated and will focus on three pillars: education, refugees and public health. The WHO will support the ‘Beat the Heat’ initiative to safeguard the health and safety of high-risk individuals from extreme heat.”
FIFA and local organisers received major criticism ahead of the Qatar World Cup over the treatment of migrant workers, but they claimed the infamous kafala system was reformed and that migrant workers, in particular those working under the auspices of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, enjoyed sufficient safeguards.
Following the 2023 FIFA Congress, FIFA established a working group – the subcommittee for human rights and social responsibility – led by Michael Llamas, the president of the Gibraltar FA, to address the legacy of the Qatar World Cup and in particular the question of compensation for migrant workers.
Consultancy group Human Level wrote a report that was sent to the subcommittee, which added its own report. FIFA’s media release on Tuesday however did not mention the words ‘migrant worker’ once.
Amnesty International slammed the new fund, arguing that it does not help families of migrant workers who died or were exploited as they built the stadiums and infrastructure for the Qatar World Cup.
“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,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty’s Head of Labour Rights and Sport.
“In failing to provide funding to compensate workers and their families for the severe harms suffered in Qatar, FIFA is blatantly disregarding its own human rights policies and is likely to be ignoring the conclusions of its own commissioned report – which is yet to be published. As long as FIFA continues to bury its head in the sand, workers and their families will continue to suffer the consequences.
“After worldwide demands for compensation coming from fans, players, sponsors and football associations, this legacy fund cannot be the end of the story. FIFA must finally do the right thing and provide meaningful remedy for all whose rights were violated and abused as a result of its flagship tournament.”
It was understood that FIFA will publish the Qatar report this quarter and possibly before the end of the month, but the news of the legacy fund now casts serious doubts over the publication of the report and whether FIFA will ever establish a compensation mechanism that will redress the claims and suffering of migrant workers who made the 2022 World Cup possible.
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