Saudi Arabia's Human Rights Record Under Fire After World Cup Bid Win

Amnesty International lashed out at FIFA for awarding Saudi Arabia the organization of the 2034 men's soccer World Cup, saying the move would put lives at risk amid criticism of the country's human rights record on Wednesday.

The 2030 tournament will be held in Spain, Portugal and Morocco with one-off matches in three South American countries, FIFA announced after a vote by acclamation of the single bids.

"FIFA's reckless decision to award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia without ensuring adequate human rights protections are in place will put many lives at risk," Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Labour Rights and Sport, said in a statement issued by 21 bodies.

Among those who co-signed the statement were Saudi diaspora human rights organizations, migrant workers’ groups from Nepal and Kenya, international trade unions, fans’ representatives and global human rights organizations.

"Based on clear evidence to date, FIFA knows workers will be exploited and even die without fundamental reforms in Saudi Arabia, and yet has chosen to press ahead regardless," it added.

"The organization risks bearing a heavy responsibility for many of the human rights abuses that will follow."

Lina Alhathloul, Head of Monitoring and Advocacy, ALQST for Human Rights, a Saudi diaspora human rights organization, said the awarding of the World Cup to Saudi Arabia was "disheartening."

"Now it’s happened, urgent and sustained action is needed to mitigate the grave risks of labor and civil rights violations associated with the tournament, including by securing major and credible reforms," she said in the joint statement.

EXTREME HEAT

In a separate statement, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre said that one stadium under construction for the tournament had been linked to alleged exploitative labor of 10- hour shifts in extreme heat.

"FIFA, its sponsors, and multinational companies likely already eyeing up lucrative infrastructure contracts have a legal and ethical responsibility to respect human rights. Particularly those of the most vulnerable migrant workers..." Phil Bloomer, Executive Director of BHRRC said.

Last week, Mogens Jensen, the General Rapporteur on Governance and Ethics in Sport of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), urged FIFA to adhere to its own eligibility and evaluation criteria.

"The organization is yet to impose binding demands on Saudi Arabia for reforms in key areas such as labor rights, freedom of expression, gender equality and anti-discrimination," Jensen said.

Saudi Arabia denies accusations of human rights abuses and says it protects its national security through its laws.

"In the areas of work as welfare, we've launched initiatives where now employees have the freedom of choice to move from one employer to the other," the head of Saudi Arabia's World Cup bid unit Hammad Albalawi told Reuters last week.

"Documents of these employees are now uploaded into government systems. Over 660,000 organizations are signed up to that portal which ensures that workers have the right to exercise everything that is within their contracts."

In 2021, a 48-page report by Amnesty, Reality Check 2021, said that practices such as withholding salaries and charging workers to change jobs were still rife in Qatar, which hosted the 2022 men's World Cup.