Only one of the four candidates for FIFA's presidential election "has pledged to tackle human rights abuses and corruption as a matter of urgency should they win the vote, scheduled to be held on May 29," according to Rory Smith of the LONDON TIMES. FIFA President Sepp Blatter and his challengers Luís Figo, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein and Michael van Praag "were all sent a questionnaire last month" by the Sport and Rights Alliance, a coalition of a number of sports organizations, trade unions and human rights groups, including Amnesty Int'l, Football Supporters Europe and Human Rights Watch. The survey asked all four "whether they would make human rights abuses and corruption a priority in the first 100 days of their tenure." Only one -- Van Praag, a former head of the Dutch FA -- was "unequivocal in his response," stating that he would make it a policy that "violation of human rights will not be tolerated" and making clear that he would "include a clause in the bidding for future World Cups" allowing FIFA to pull out if the host nation did not meet its criteria. Van Praag "also vowed to publish the Garcia report" into FIFA corruption in full, pledged that he would "only serve one term and, if elected, guaranteed greater transparency" in all of FIFA's spending and decision-making (LONDON TIMES, 5/14).
