FIFA urged to put more human rights scrutiny into 2034 World Cup deal with Saudi Arabia

ZURICH (AP) — Two months before FIFA is set to confirm Saudi Arabia as the 2034 World Cup host, the soccer body was urged again Friday to allow independent scrutiny of the kingdom’s human rights obligations for the tournament.

A group of law and human rights experts plus Saudi activists abroad want FIFA to mandate ongoing reviews — and a potential termination clause — into the 2034 World Cup hosting contract.

The advisers who came to Zurich on Friday want FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who is closely tied to Saudi political and soccer leaders, to learn from how Qatar was picked to host the 2022 World Cup. Qatar won in 2010 with little thought from FIFA’s then-leaders about legal safeguards and reputational challenges.

Saudi Arabia, like Qatar, is a traditionally conservative society and needs a huge construction project relying on migrant workers to build stadiums and other infrastructure for global soccer's biggest event.

“There are really no excuses now,” British lawyer Rodney Dixon told The Associated Press. “If it means that they therefore have to come to a different kind of agreement in December, that is what they should do.”

World Cup hosting contracts will be signed after the Dec. 11 decision by more than 200 FIFA member federations at an online meeting. Saudi Arabia is the only candidate for 2034.

Promising not to be confrontational with FIFA, Dixon said: “We are not naive. It is not FIFA’s role to change the world. They are not the UN.”

The briefing in FIFA’s home city came two days after the UN General Assembly in New York rejected a Saudi bid to get a seat on the 47-nation Human Rights Council for the next three years.

On Friday, the would-be FIFA advisers cited Saudi Arabia's record on freedom of speech and assembly, and laws on labor and male guardianship that limit women's freedoms.

After Infantino was first elected in 2016, when scrutiny was intense on Qatar and its treatment of migrant workers, FIFA demanded a human rights strategy from future World Cup hosts.

Bid rules for the 2030 and 2034 men’s tournaments refer to “activities in connection with the bidding for and hosting” rather than rights in wider society.

In May, FIFA got an offer from the law and human rights experts to create an independent process for monitoring progress in Saudi Arabia.

Swiss law professor Mark Pieth, an anti-corruption advisor to FIFA from 2011-14, said they had been ignored and “we are here in Zurich to try again.”

In July, Saudi plans for the World Cup were published including a review of its human rights strategy by lawyers it chose, and 15 stadium projects.

Human Rights Watch researcher Joey Shea said Friday it documented “grave labor violations” against migrant workers who number more than 13 million, or about 40% of the kingdom’s population.

The scale of construction required for the World Cup and potential for labor abuses “is really, really chilling,” Shea said in a live link from London.

She cautioned that while rights groups had limited access to operate in Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup, there is “zero access” to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi soccer officials have consistently said the kingdom is making progress on social reforms as part of the Vision 2030 drive by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to modernize and create a post-oil economy.

The 2034 bid campaign was contacted for comment Friday.

In a video message from Washington D.C., Abdullah Alaoudh of the Middle East Democracy Center insisted “the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia has worsened under Mohamed bin Salman’s leadership.”

Saudi Arabia was ranked No. 131 of 146 nations on gender issues by the World Economic Forum, Dixon noted.

“(There are) so many laws that prejudice women,” he said. “None of them are addressed by the Saudi bid.”

FIFA is evaluating World Cup bidders with reports likely in early December. It also must assess the human rights strategy of the sole candidate for the 2030 World Cup: co-hosts Spain, Portugal and Morocco with single games in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

“All relevant reports, including the independent human rights context assessments and the human rights strategies of all bidders for the 2030 and 2034 editions, are available on our website,” FIFA said Friday.

FIFA and Infantino have not held a news conference to take any questions on World Cup bids since the 2034 edition was fast-tracked toward Saudi Arabia one year ago.

Any protest among FIFA voters on Dec. 11 has been made less likely.

FIFA said last week both 2030 and 2034 awards will be combined in a single vote. Any European opposition to the Saudi bid also would count against Spain and Portugal. Victory by acclamation without an itemized vote is possible.

“If FIFA is desperate to give Saudi Arabia the World Cup,” Pieth said, “the least would be to see to it that the minimum of these (human rights) requirements is actually upheld.”

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