Der er mange negative ting at sige om den næste VM-slutrunde i Qatar, der formentlig har kostet flere tusind mennesker livet på de stadioner, der skal bygges, men det har dog ført én positiv ting med sig: FIFA har forpligtet sig til fremover at tage hensyn til menneskerettigheder, når VM-slutrunderne skal fordeles.
Nu frygter en række organisationer, at FIFA når at bryde sine egne regler allerede i 2022. På torsdag mødes det magtfulde organ FIFA Council, hvor det blandt andet skal diskutere muligheden for at udvide VM fra 32 til 48 hold, og det kan tvinge Qatar til at acceptere at lade nogle af dets nabolande være medværter.
Det er det, som spillere, fans, fagforeninger og menneskerettighedsorganisationer frygter. For hvis slutrunden også skal spilles i lande som Saudi-Arabien eller De Forenede Arabiske Emirater, udpeger FIFA bare nye VM-værter, hvor bygningsarbejdere jævnligt dør, migranter lever under slavelignende forhold, og kvinders og homoseksuelles rettigheder lader noget tilbage at ønske.
- Der er klare risici, hvad angår menneskerettigheder, forbundet med at tilføje nye værter til VM 2022, ikke mindst den udbredte udnyttelse af migrantarbejdere, som udfører byggearbejde og andre services for VM, siger Stephen Cockburn fra Amnesty International i en pressemeddelelse.
- Gianni Infantino har sagt, at han vil gøre VM mere inkluderende. Det betyder, at FIFA må vurdere potentielle medværter i Den Persiske Golf for at sikre sig, at VM ikke bidrager til eller forbindes med brud på menneskerettighederne.
En sammenslutning af en række organisationer udsender i dag et åbent brev til FIFA-præsident Infantino, hvor de opfordrer ham og resten af verdensforbundet til at sørge for, at et eventuelt udvidet VM ikke ender i hænderne på flere rædselsregimer.
Blandt underskriverne er World Players Association, som er en fagforening for professionelle idrætudøver, og hvor den internationale spillerforening, FIFPro, indgår. Også fansammenslutningen Football Supporters Europe og Transparency International har skrevet under. Det samme har Amnesty og Human Rights Watch.
Det åbne brev kan læses i sin fulde længde (på engelsk) herunder:
Dear Mr Infantino
We are writing as a global group of non-governmental organisations, trade unions, players’ unions and fans groups working to defend and promote human rights and transparency in sport, in relation to the forthcoming FIFA Council Meeting on 14-15 March where proposals to expand the 2022 World Cup will be discussed.
Given the possibility that an enlarged 2022 World Cup could potentially require additional countries to host the tournament, we remind FIFA of the commitment it has made to enshrine human rights, transparency and sustainability criteria in its World Cup hosting and bidding process – something we welcomed in 2017, in addition to the adoption of FIFA’s Human Rights Policy.
As such, we call on you to publicly confirm that any assessments of potential co-hosts for 2022 would follow a process that includes these criteria, similar to that approved for the 2026 World Cup. This would include, amongst other things, the same requirement for any potential co-host to provide “guarantees of compliance with international human rights and labour standards from the government and host cities... as well as from the entities responsible for the construction and renovation of stadiums, training sites, hotels and airport.”
Such an approach is necessary to meet FIFA’s commitments in its own Statutes and Human Rights Policy as well as its corporate responsibility to respect human rights as elaborated in the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights.
In applying the hosting and bidding criteria, FIFA must ensure that it identifies and assesses the specific human rights risks of each potential host country, including whether or not they can be prevented or mitigated, and obliges potential hosts to develop a corrective action plan under FIFA’s leadership.
With respect to additional hosts in the Gulf region, specific human rights risks relevant to the hosting of the World Cup that FIFA must consider include exploitative labour systems that make migrant workers vulnerable to abuse; discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation and religion; as well as restrictions on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression, and threats to human rights defenders.
We believe that the application of FIFA’s Human Rights Policy and its bidding and hosting criteria have the potential to play an important role in preventing and mitigating human rights abuses and violations in connection with one of the world’s biggest sporting events. We urge you to publicly confirm that they will be implemented in full.
Yours sincerely,
Amnesty International
Football Supporters Europe (FSE)
Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
Human Rights Watch
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
Transparency International
UNI Global Union
World Players Association
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