By Graham Dunbar
Norway’s soccer federation plans to abstain from giving its approval when Saudi Arabia is confirmed Wednesday as the 2034 World Cup host, saying FIFA has done too little to protect human rights around the tournament.
“FIFA’s own guidelines for human rights and due diligence have also not been adequately integrated into the process, increasing the risk of human rights violations,” Norway federation president Lise Klaveness said in a statement Tuesday.
FIFA’s 211 member federations are holding an online meeting on Wednesday to rubberstamp the decision to give Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup and award the 2030 edition to a six-nation project led by Spain, Portugal and Morocco that will see games played on three continents.
“(Wednesday’s) vote is not about who gets the 2030 and 2034 World Cups — that has already been decided,” Klaveness said, adding that FIFA’s approval without an itemized vote “does not align with the principles of a sound and predictable governance system.”
FIFA shaped the contests last year to have just one bid each that faced limited outside scrutiny, as the soccer body and its president Gianni Infantino continued to build deeper financial and political ties to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has a massive construction plan for stadiums, hotels and transport for the World Cup set to rely heavily on migrant labor – raising concerns that FIFA is inviting a repeat of intense challenges and fatalities faced by workers in Qatar during preparations to host the 2022 edition. Norway and Klaveness also put pressure on FIFA and Qatar before that tournament.
FIFA’s in-house evaluation of the Saudi bid rated the tournament an elevated risk though with “significant opportunities for positive human rights impact,” which activists claimed was a whitewash.
A FIFA-mandated Saudi report on human rights was commissioned from a legal firm closely tied to the kingdom, and it committed World Cup organizers only to work with state-approved domestic agencies plus the UN-backed International Labor Organization.
The ILO in Geneva, which worked with Qatar to reform the “kafala” system of labor rules, is currently investigating a formal complaint alleging abuses in Saudi Arabia filed by the global trade union Building and Wood Workers’ International.
Switzerland’s soccer federation said Tuesday it will support FIFA’s 2030-2034 decisions, but noted “some vagueness on certain points” of the Saudi strategy to protect rights and freedoms.
“We consider it the duty of FIFA and the organizers, in cooperation with renowned independent international organizations” beyond the ILO, Swiss federation president Dominique Blanc said, “to look closely, observe and monitor whether commitments and promises made to workers, teams, fans and media professionals are upheld.”
Ultimately, the Swiss soccer body said, it believed FIFA and World Cup organizers in Saudi Arabia “have learned the lessons from Qatar.”
However, FIFA has ignored advice to compensate workers in Qatar and their families, given by a panel of rights experts appointed last year under pressure from European soccer officials including Norway.
FIFA withheld the panel’s report for almost a year until publishing it Nov. 30, two days after announcing a 2022 World Cup legacy fund of $50 million that that does not give anything directly to the workers. The money is going to charity projects linked to UN agencies.
“The lack of predictability and open processes challenges trust in FIFA as the global custodian of football,” Klaveness said.
AP
