FIFA issued a positive assessment of Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the 2034 World Cup early on Saturday, November 30, stating that it posed just a “medium” risk to human rights and awarding it the joint-highest score of any bidding country. A long-awaited assessment on whether it should pay migrant workers who endured serious labor violations on projects related to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was also leaked at the same time. FIFA’s response was essentially a resounding nay, even though its subcommittee on human rights and social responsibility had recommended that it do so.
Saudi World Cup raises rights concerns
Human rights organizations criticized the findings, calling the former “astonishing whitewash” and the latter “insulting.” Human rights organizations’ dissatisfaction with Fifa’s lack of learning from Qatar and their conviction that the egregious exploitation of cheap labor is set to happen again are reflected in the unyielding tone. the terrible conditions that low-wage migrant laborers in Qatar faced in 2013, which led to a global uproar. In the sweltering desert heat, hundreds of thousands of workers from some of the world’s poorest regions were working to construct stadiums and other infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup. Workers’ testimonies exposed the long list of abuses they endured, including passport seizure, unpaid or delayed wages, cruel housing conditions, and a “sponsorship” system that prevented them from changing employment regardless of how they were treated. In the ten years before the event, thousands of people lost their lives. Many people thought it was a kind of contemporary slavery used for football. It is now the turn of Saudi Arabia, Qatar’s larger and more assertive neighbor. The Gulf kingdom’s World Cup proposal included ambitious plans for 11 new stadiums (seven were completed by Qatar), a significant expansion of its transportation system, and more than 185,000 new hotel rooms four times the current amount.
FIFA criticized over migrant worker rights
Similar to Qatar, migrant workers from South Asia will play a major role in building Saudi Arabia’s World Cup infrastructure. Over 13 million immigrants reside in the nation, with at least 2 million coming from Bangladesh alone. As tournament-related construction gets underway, those numbers are predicted to rise. Human rights organizations have been warning about the dangers for over a year. Last month, Amnesty International called for the bidding process to be stopped unless significant improvements were implemented, stating that “migrant workers will face exploitation, and many will die.” Those cautions are already turning out to be accurate. It was disclosed last month that Bangladeshi laborers building the first new stadium for the World Cup were allegedly facing severe labor rights abuses. They labor through 10-hour days in the sweltering summer heat, trapped by enormous recruitment debts and their meager earnings withheld for months, only to return every day to filthy, crammed chambers that resemble jail cells.
Migrant rights ignored in Saudi victory
Four Bangladeshis perished in Saudi Arabia on average every day earlier this year; this death toll is mainly unaccounted for and scrutinized. While acknowledging that more has to be done to improve the welfare of migrant workers, the Saudi government and FIFA contend that the World Cup will catalyze change, just like they did in Qatar. Workers who are still in Qatar do not hold that opinion. One commented, “The lives of the workers here have not improved.” People are having trouble finding jobs, and many of them are even short on cash for food. Every day after the World Cup is worse than the one before it.
Saudi bid to triumph sparks rights backlash
FIFA critics warn that hosting the World Cup in Saudi Arabia could lead to a recurrence of the rights violations that occurred during ten years of identical preparations for the 2022 tournament in Qatar. Following a formal complaint by trade unions, the United Nations-backed International Labor Organization (ILO) has already begun an investigation into allegations of widespread labor abuses in Saudi Arabia. Citing human rights concerns, two US senators have called on FIFA to find a new host for its major men’s tournament, which brings in billions of dollars for the soccer organization. FIFA also admitted that Saudi Arabia needs to put in “a lot of work and time” to adhere to international norms, which were heavily condemned by the UN Human Rights Council this year. In a formal bid document, Saudi officials pledged to cooperate with the ILO and domestic organizations, but not with foreign organizations such as rights groups and unions with little or no work access in the country.