Euro 2024 hosting candidates Germany and Turkey have been told that "they must meet specific criteria for human and labour rights and anti-corruption measures for their bids to be considered," according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. In a statement, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin said, "The protection of human rights and labour rights is of the utmost importance for UEFA. It was imperative for us to introduce specific articles on the respect and protection of human rights in the bidding requirements for all of our competitions." UEFA said that the criteria was "based on United Nations principles on business and human rights and other UN conventions" (REUTERS, 5/2). The PA reported for the first time, "hosts must meet specified criteria related to human rights." Earlier this year, the UN human rights office published a report detailing "serious human rights violations committed between July 2015 and December 2016 in south-east Turkey," the veracity of which the Turkish government contested. Both associations have until April 27, 2018 to "complete and submit their bid dossiers to UEFA" (PA, 5/1).
STRICT RULES: SKY SPORTS reported Euro 2024 is "likely to be held in Germany" after UEFA announced that bidders have to "comply with strict human rights rules." Turkey has never hosted a major football tournament and "may find it more difficult to comply with UEFA's new human rights bid rules." Amnesty Int'l has criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for overseeing "a massive government crackdown on civil servants and civil society" after a coup attempt last July. About 47,000 people have been arrested "during a nine-month state of emergency and on Saturday Turkey blocked access to Wikipedia under a law designed to protect national security" (SKY SPORTS, 5/1).
