November 28 – Following in the footsteps of the two US senators, Daniel Freund and Niels Fuglsang, Members of the European Parliament have sounded the alarm bell over FIFA and a 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia.
In interviews with the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet, the two parliamentarians questioned the ‘bidding process’ for the 2034 tournament and FIFA’s commitment to human rights.
“The decision to award the World Cup to Saudi Arabia in 2034 appears to have been made behind closed doors by a small, exclusive group, leaving the various member organisations with little or no opportunity for input,” said Niels Fuglsang, a member of the Social Democrats in the European Parliament.
“The fact that both the World Cup in 2030 and 2034 have been put together in the same vote also emphasises the lack of transparency and democratic decisions.”
Daniel Freund, a member of the Greens in the European Parliament and the Delegation for Relations with the Arab Peninsula (DARP) also believes that the process wasn’t fair.
He suggested a radical solution: “In my opinion, the only way to ensure the prevention of human rights violations is not to award the World Cup to Saudi Arabia. If the World Cup 2034 is to take place in Saudi Arabia, there will be no possibility of guaranteeing human rights and then the only option is to boycott it.”
The pair also took aim at FIFA’s own human rights obligations.
“My confidence in FIFA’s ability to protect fundamental rights has never been lower,” said Fuglsang.
Freund echoed the sentiment: “The country’s abuse of the labour sponsorship system, as well as the ban on trade unions and the lack of enforcement of labour laws, will lead to widespread exploitation of migrant workers who will do the majority of the work preparing for the World Cup in Saudi Arabia.”
FIFA mandates all tournament bidders to have a human rights strategy in place, but rights groups and NGOs have repeatedly rejected the ‘independent assessment’ of the bidders’ human rights strategy for the 2034 World Cup by the law firm Clifford Chance.
Freund said: “FIFA has committed to evaluating the awarding of tournaments based on human rights criteria, which must be binding standards. But with only one candidate, any pressure from a competitive selection process is naturally eliminated.”
Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that US senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Dick Durbin of Illinois wrote to FIFA president Gianni Infantino to urge him not to pick Saudi Arabia as the hosts of the 2034 World Cup. They wrote: “Approving Saudi Arabia’s bid this December endangers workers, athletes, tourists, and members of the press, and it runs counter to FIFA’s own human rights policies.”
“More concerningly,” the senators said, reinforcing their points, “the Saudis have failed to address how they will uphold labor protections, press freedoms, non-discrimination and inclusion standards. We strongly urge FIFA to take all steps necessary to thoroughly re-evaluate Saudi Arabia’s ill-equipped World Cup bid ahead of December and select a rights-respecting host country.”
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