Responding to the launch of the FIFA World Cup Qatar Legacy Fund, Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Labour Rights and Sport said:
“It is shameful that FIFA and Qatar have launched their long-awaited legacy fund without any recognition of their clear responsibility towards the vast number of migrant workers who were exploited and, in many cases, died to make the 2022 World Cup possible. While providing money to global efforts to support refugees and protect workers from the impacts of extreme heat is important, the fund currently does absolutely nothing for the families who lost loved ones in Qatar and were plunged into poverty as a result.
“In failing to provide funding to compensate workers and their families for the severe harms suffered in Qatar, FIFA is blatantly disregarding its own human rights policies and is likely to be ignoring the conclusions of its own commissioned report – which is yet to be published. As long as FIFA continues to bury its head in the sand, workers and their families will continue to suffer the consequences.
“After worldwide demands for compensation coming from fans, players, sponsors and football associations, this legacy fund cannot be the end of the story. FIFA must finally do the right thing and provide meaningful remedy for all whose rights were violated and abused as a result of its flagship tournament.”
ENDS
Background
FIFA today announced that in partnership with Qatar it was launching a USD 50 million Legacy Fund for the 2022 World Cup, with funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), World Trade Organization (WTO) and UNCHR, the UN Refugee Agency.
The fund does not include any compensation for affected workers, though it provides some funding for the WHO’s ‘Beat The Heat’ programme to protect workers from heat stress in the future. Amnesty International reported that many workers died as a result of working in extreme heat in Qatar, while workers are also likely to be at high risk in preparing the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, a broad coalition of human rights organizations, trade unions, fans’ representative groups, players unions called for FIFA to provide at least USD 440 million in compensation to workers – equivalent to the prize money provided to competing teams. The call was backed by a number of Football Associations and FIFA sponsors, while opinion polls showed overwhelming support from the public. To date, this has been ignored by FIFA.
In March 2023, FIFA commissioned an independent report to advise on whether it had responsibility to provide remedy for abuses committed in connection to the World Cup. The report is yet to be published, but is believed to recommend the provision of remedy to a significant number of workers
Past FIFA Legacy Funds for the World Cups in South Africa, Brazil and Russia were reported to be worth USD 100 million each – double the size of the Qatar fund. FIFA generated over USD 7 billion from the 2022 World Cup.