A report commissioned by FIFA concluded that football’s governing body “has a responsibility” to compensate workers who suffered while hosting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The long-awaited report from FIFA’s Human Rights and Social Responsibility Subcommittee – finally released at midnight on Friday Central European Time – says the governing body “has taken a number of measures to attempt to fulfill its responsibility to respect human rights” in the delivery of the tournament two years ago.
However, FIFA failed to follow through on one of the report’s key recommendations, namely to use the Qatar Legacy Fund to address workers affected by human rights abuses, instead announcing that it would give the money to several other programs that will not directly compensate workers in Qatar.
FIFA insisted the study was not “a legal assessment of the duty to remedy”.
The independent study, commissioned by the subcommittee and prepared by the business and human rights consultancy Human Level, notes that “a number of serious impacts on human rights the man finally occurred in Qatar between 2010 and 2022” for a number of workers. linked to the tournament.
This included “deaths, injuries and illnesses; salaries are not paid for months; and significant debt faced by workers and their families to repay the fees they paid to obtain employment in Qatar.
While recognizing that “the primary responsibility for addressing these shortcomings lies with the direct employers of these workers as well as the Qatari government,” the subcommittee “endorses the view expressed in the Human Level Study that FIFA also has the responsibility to take additional measures. measures to help provide recourse for these workers.
World Cup organizers estimate the number of deaths directly linked to the tournament at 40. Human rights groups have long estimated that thousands of workers died.
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A FIFA spokesperson said: “All reports and recommendations have been considered in a thorough review by the FIFA administration and relevant bodies. Even if not all of the recommendations could be implemented, practical and impactful elements were retained.
“It should be noted that the study does not specifically constitute a legal assessment of the reparation obligation.”
The report recommends that FIFA use its Qatar Legacy Fund to provide relief to affected workers or, for those who have died, their family members.
The subcommittee advises them to “follow through on the intention, as indicated by FIFA in a press release dated 19 November 2022, to dedicate all or part of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Legacy Fund to strengthening the legacy of competition for migrant workers. »
However, two days before the report was published FIFA announced the $50 million fund would instead be used for a series of social programs globally in collaboration with Qatar and three organizations, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency.
A FIFA spokesperson said: “The establishment of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Legacy Fund was unanimously approved by the FIFA Council following a proposal made by the Governance Committee , audit and compliance of FIFA.
“A workers’ support and insurance fund was established in Qatar in 2018 and FIFA believes that the new Legacy Fund, supported by recognized international agencies, is a pragmatic and transparent initiative that will encompass social programs aimed to help the most deprived people around the world.”
Following the award of the World Cup to Qatar, FIFA added human rights to its tournament bidding process.
Friday, FIFA evaluation report on Saudi Arabia’s bid for the 2034 World Cup said the human rights risk assessment was “medium”.
A vote on hosting the tournament – for which the Saudi bid has no rival – will take place at the FIFA Congress on December 11.
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(Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images)