Amnesty International (AI) denounced this Monday that the 2030 World Cup planned in Spain, Morocco and Portugal require “more reliable guarantees” for compliance with the standard of respect for human rights of FIFA required to qualify as a venue. This was stated in a report carried out by AI and the Sports and Rights Alliance (SRA), which analyzed the human rights strategies presented for the 2030 and 2034 World Cups, concluding that none “met the standards established by FIFA ” or ” do they refer to human rights organizations.”
In the report ‘High risk offers: dangerously flawed human rights strategy for the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cups’, AI warned of the dangers of the 2030 World Cup in Spain, Morocco and Portugal, where it cited abuses of police, violence racist, homophobic. and sexist in stadiums and risks of forced eviction registered in three countries.
In this sense, AI’s Head of Labor Rights and Sports, Steve Cockburn, emphasizes that “Morocco, Portugal and Spain must take their responsibilities in terms of human rights more seriously” if they want the tournament to strengthen the this principle in countries. “FIFA should halt the process until proper human rights protections are put in place to prevent a serious situation from escalating.”
FIFA urged to suspend Saudi Arabia in 2034
On the other hand, AI is urging FIFA to suspend the selection process for Saudi Arabia to host the 2034 World Cup, unless “human rights reforms are announced”, ahead of FIFA’s vote scheduled for next month. In the document, the human rights organization cited the discrimination, forced eviction and exploitation of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia through the ‘kafala’ system, the sponsorship of foreign workers that limits their freedoms and has been denounced in the World Cup 2022.
Also, the NGO maintains that the Gulf country does not guarantee “a minimum wage for foreigners, union rights, or protection mechanisms to prevent the death of workers.” “The risks in Saudi Arabia are so high that holding the tournament there is likely to result in serious and widespread human rights violations,” the statement said.
FIFA introduced human rights standards for the first time in its selection process for the 2026 men’s World Cup, following controversies over the selection of Qatar to host the tournament in 2022, and said these requirements would be “absolute obligations.” AI has already denounced a week ago the “defective” human rights evaluation presented by the Saudi kingdom for its candidacy for the 2034 World Cup, which, according to the NGO, omits documented abuses in the country to facilitate its hosting of the tournament.
So far, Saudi Arabia is the only confirmed candidate to host this event in 2034, after withdrawing from a joint project with Egypt and Greece that failed. The FIFA Congress will make the final decision on the organizer of the competition and also on 2030 on December 11, where the joint candidacy of Spain, Portugal and Morocco, which will have at least three matches against Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, is the only one present.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
