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Fifa has rejected calls for an independent monitor to assess migrant workers’ conditions in Saudi Arabia in the buildup to the 2034 World Cup.
Football’s world governing body has been urged by the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa), a trade union organisation that represents 18 million African workers, to increase protections afforded to migrant workers as the Gulf state embarks on the massive construction programme required to deliver the tournament. In response, however, Fifa has argued measures currently in place are sufficient, claiming it mandates hosts to “uphold their respective duties and responsibilities under international human rights standards in all activities associated with the tournament”.
ITUC–Africa made the request to Fifa last month in response to what it described as Saudi Arabia’s “alarming record” on human rights and Fifa’s verdict on the same issue in assessing the Saudi bid. It called on Fifa to make a number of specific interventions, including the end of the kafala system of labour and allowing independent monitors to keep watch over workers’ conditions.
In a letter seen by the Guardian, Fifa’s general secretary, Mattias Grafström, replied to ITUC-Africa but does not engage directly with its requests. Instead he points to commitments already made by the Saudi authorities in their bid literature, including a proposal to establish, in Grafström’s words, “a workers’ welfare system to monitor compliance with labour rights standards for tournament-related workers”.
In the official Saudi bid document, the phrase “workers’ welfare system” does not appear, although the hosts do describe a “working group” formed of a number of Saudi government departments to “define a governance structure to oversee implementation of the [human rights] strategy”. The bid document also promises to “leverage the relationships from within this group and beyond to engage with key partners including the United Nations, the International Labo[u]r Organization, the Saudi National Committee of Workers Committees, and others”, although the nature of any such engagement is not made clear.
An estimated 10 million migrant workers are currently resident in Saudi Arabia and they are expected to make up the majority of the workforce needed to deliver the extensive World Cup infrastructure. The projects promised as part of winning Saudi bid include building 11 entirely new stadiums, expanded transport networks and an estimated 185,000 hotel rooms, a doubling of current capacity.
In his letter, Grafström said Fifa plans to “engage constructively” with international labour rights organisations in the lead-up to the 2034 World Cup. “The Fifa World Cup will shine a spotlight on Saudi Arabia for the years to come, which can provide an opportunity for actors within the country and beyond to promote positive change,” he wrote.
