A Harvard professor hired by FIFA to "advise on improvements" to the organization's human rights approach has advised that World Cups "should be taken away from countries who fail to end systematic abuses," according to ESPN. John Ruggie, who previously worked with the U.N., has "produced a large report" -- on request from FIFA -- in response to criticism of 2022 World Cup host Qatar "and the nation's human rights record." He said, "Where FIFA is unable to reduce severe human rights impacts by using its leverage, it should consider suspending or terminating the relationship." Those recommendations "relate not just to host nations, but any entity involved with FIFA -- including sponsors." FIFA President Gianni Infantino said, "I would like to thank Prof. Ruggie for his work in producing this report, which, together with FIFA's own analysis and ongoing work, will guide the way forward" (ESPN, 4/14). REUTERS' Scott Malone reported Ruggie said that FIFA "must make human rights one of its primary goals, on a par with promoting the sport and making money." He said that FIFA "should be prepared to use its negotiating leverage to ensure that countries bidding for its World Cup championship protect the rights of people who build stadiums." The report said, "What is required is a cultural shift that must affect everything FIFA does and how it does it. This includes ... building and using its leverage to address these risks as determinedly as it does to pursue its commercial interests." The recommendations come two weeks after Amnesty Int'l "described rights abuses in Qatar's preparations for the 2022 World Cup," including construction workers from Nepal and India "being charged recruitment fees and housed in squalid conditions." Qatari officials said that they were "working to resolve those issues." The report urges FIFA to "abide by the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights." That would mean "insisting that host countries comply with standards protecting all workers and that it make clear that it could unilaterally cut ties" with entities that violated those standards (REUTERS, 4/14).
