Saudi Arabia: There is a risk of widespread labor abuses at the 2034 World Cup

(New York) – Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid fails to address the country’s widespread labor rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today.

FIFA, the international soccer body, will officially confirm the awarding of the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia on December 11, 2024. FIFA has reportedly completed its assessment of the Saudi bid. On July 29, Saudi authorities submitted their “book of application,” along with a human rights strategy and an independent contextual assessment, which are among FIFA’s application requirements. All three documents blatantly ignore well-documented risks faced by workers, including forced labor. They also lack any analysis of enforcement gaps and do not consider the perspectives of rights holders and other stakeholders beyond Saudi government officials.

“Saudi Arabia’s World Cup hosting documents ignore the country’s blatant human rights violations, including inadequate heat protection measures, uncontrolled wage theft, union bans and mistreatment Kafala (visa sponsorship) labor system,” said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch. “FIFA is willfully blind to the country’s human rights record and is preparing for a decade of potentially horrific human rights abuses in preparation for the 2034 World Cup.”

Saudi Arabia’s hosting documents reveal the huge amount of construction work required for the tournament, including 11 new and renovated stadiums. Other infrastructure to be built includes more than 185,000 new hotel rooms and a significant expansion of the airport, road, rail and bus networks, as well as the giga projects under the Saudi Vision 2030 plan, including the new upscale NEOM City.

In comparison, no new stadiums will be built for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Saudi Arabia’s massive infrastructure deficit will rest entirely on the backs of the migrant workers who build it. According to the 2022 census, there are 13.4 million migrant workers in the country, accounting for 42 percent of the country’s population.

In June, the Construction and Wood Workers Union (BWI) filed a forced labor complaint against Saudi Arabia with the International Labor Organization (ILO). BWI’s complaint was based on cases of tens of thousands of workers with unpaid wages from two Saudi Arabia-based construction companies and statements from 193 migrant workers who were subjected to a range of abuses. Violations included confiscation of identification documents, debt bondage, and abusive working and living conditions, despite Saudi authorities calling for revisions to labor laws. BWI’s complaint notes that Saudi Arabia has failed to enforce several international treaties it ratified, including the Forced Labor Convention and its 2014 Protocol.

Despite the vital role of migrant workers in the 2034 World Cup, the government’s bid documents fail to meaningfully prioritize key health and safety measures.

The independent contextual analysis commissioned by the Saudi Arabia Football Association (SAFF) in consultation with FIFA and carried out by law firm AS&H Clifford Chance is embarrassingly inadequate. The assessment itself acknowledges that they have not carried out the due diligence required by FIFA’s own human rights policy and that the scope of the report is limited to 22 human rights instruments selected by FIFA and the SAFF, as well as what is “within the assessment period and the scope of the assessment.” FIFA prescribed measures feasible” was page limit.” This excludes fundamental international human rights instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The bibliography also lacks references to extensive published research on migrant worker rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and to a major forced labor complaint against the country.

A coalition of 11 leading human rights watchdog organizations, including Human Rights Watch, expressed serious concerns in a letter about Clifford Chance’s assessment, warning FIFA and the law firm that they risk being linked to abuses in tournament preparations. In response, the law firm said it would be “inappropriate” to make any comment.

“Not a single migrant worker, not a single victim of human rights crimes, not a single torture survivor, not a single imprisoned women’s rights activist or not a single Saudi Civil society “A member was consulted for FIFA’s supposedly independent report,” Worden said. “FIFA’s handling of the Saudi bid is a catastrophic failure to implement mandatory human rights risk assessments and protections for the millions of migrant workers who will make the 2034 World Cup possible.”

The other key bid document, the “Human Rights Strategy in the Context of the 2034 FIFA World Cup,” incorrectly describes the independent contextual analysis as a “robust risk assessment of the human rights context” based on “robust engagement with relevant stakeholders in the Kingdom” to examine current policies and regulations and identify significant risks and gaps related to the preparation and hosting of the tournament.”

However, the authors make clear that their analysis was based solely on secondary research and collaboration with Saudi authorities over a six-week period. Similarly, the Saudi Bid Book refers to Clifford Chance’s assessment as “focuses on the rights issues commonly associated with mega sporting events, taking into account published comments from international monitoring bodies and supported by strong engagement with stakeholders throughout.” Saudi Arabia.”

The human rights strategy also lists “additional initiatives” such as the development of frameworks to conduct supplier due diligence and procurement and Supply chain Management that is not specific, concrete or time-limited. They do not mention basic labor rights such as freedom of association and collective bargaining. This vagueness reflects Saudi Arabia’s unwillingness to adequately protect workers in the high-risk environment of the massive World Cup construction projects.

“These documents appear to have been concocted to create the impression that a serious human and labor rights risk assessment was carried out,” Worden said. “FIFA’s bogus evaluation process to award the 2034 World Cup without legally binding human rights obligations is a repeat of its irresponsible approach to setting up the World Cup in Qatar, which ultimately cost the lives of thousands of migrant workers.”

Human Rights Watch has warned that FIFA is violating its own human rights rules by announcing a plan to host the next two men’s World Cups that virtually eliminates bids and human rights due diligence. The bidding process for the 2026 World Cup had to include a human rights strategy and an independent assessment based on consultations with dozens of human rights actors. Human Rights Watch wrote to FIFA outlining concerns about the 2034 bid. In addition, Human Rights Watch has informed sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Adidas and AB InBev about the flawed human rights risk assessments.

Rampant labor rights violations were ignored in the bidding process for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and in 2014 Qatar faced a forced labor complaint with the ILO. Research by Human Rights Watch has shown that despite subsequent reforms, the 2022 World Cup left a legacy of unaddressed abuses, including thousands of uncompensated deaths that caused lasting harm to migrant workers and families.

An independent review of FIFA’s human rights responsibilities towards workers harmed during the staging of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was commissioned but never published. Since Saudi Arabia’s bid, FIFA has also withdrawn the negotiated framework to protect labor and human rights when hosting the 2026 World Cup.

Human rights risks are magnified in the Saudi context because the requirements for building stadiums and infrastructure are enormous, the country is geographically much larger, and there are no independent human rights monitors or media.

“Without appropriate human rights due diligence and binding labor and human rights obligations from the Saudi authorities, FIFA should not proceed with a vote to confirm Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 World Cup,” Worden said.