When the Whistle Blows: How Human Rights Took Centre Stage in the 2022 World Cup│UK

Sport reaches across all sections of society and, in so doing, provides a unique platform to promote and advance human rights.

As the start whistle for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar drew near towards the end of 2022, teams, players and sports organisations increasingly spoke out about the human rights issues that workers, communities and athletes impacted by the event were facing. Some glaring lessons began to emerge for businesses involved in future major sports events.

The most important of these challenges are:

Sports have the power to bring out the best in players and spectators alike. They inspire people to do better and can serve as a genuine agent for change. There are also very real human rights concerns involved that the sector is starting to take seriously in different ways.

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 continued to showcase how much various actors in the field of major sporting events perceive and appreciate their role in safeguarding human rights.

As the event approached, action by brands and participants to highlight human rights abuses escalated. Hummel, the manufacturer of the jerseys for the Danish football team, developed a plain all-black third kit for the tournament to memorialise the migrant workers who died during the 11-year construction period that preceded the event. European football team captains pledged to wear armbands during matches to demonstrate their support for LGBTQ rights in the host country. Pressure intensified from fan groups in Germany, national clubs in Norway and former players across Europe for national teams to boycott the tournament.

During the event, numerous public displays of solidarity and dissent played out on the pitch alongside the matches. Such gestures were to be expected, given that questions had been asked about the human rights track record of host city Doha and the impact on local rights-holders of staging the FIFA World Cup in Qatar ever since the country was awarded hosting rights in 2011.

Although it was Qatar’s turn to find itself firmly under the international microscope in November 2022, pressure has been building on brands and businesses to prioritise human rights for some time and several reasons.

During the aforementioned 11-year period between the award and the event in Qatar, there has been an ongoing global shift towards socially responsible business practices and investment approaches by organisations, brands and investors.

This was accelerated by the release of the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on Business and Human Rights, also in 2011, which provide guidelines for companies to address and remedy human rights harms. The UNGPs are especially important for companies associating themselves with sports events, as they place expectations on said companies to use leverage with business partners in order to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts.

Major sporting events can highlight existing issues within societies, such as the labour rights of migrant workers building venues or the marginalisation of vulnerable groups on religious, ethnic or gender grounds (as seen in the 2022 Winter Olympics in China). In response, international sports bodies such as the International Olympic Committee and FIFA are working to implement a raft of bidding and hosting regulations that require human rights risk-mapping and management as a qualification condition.

Direct pressure was placed on Qatar and FIFA World Cup organisers from day one. This led to unprecedented change in the Gulf Arab state. Key reforms to the labour law have been made. Qatar has scrapped the kafala (sponsorship) system, which tied workers to an employer and thus restricted freedom of movement. It is also the only Gulf state to host a regional office of the International Labour Organization.

However, challenges remain despite these reforms, particularly when it comes to:

Some players and sports personalities have shown that they are keen to protect their own personal brand. Ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix in Jeddah in December 2021, Lewis Hamilton voiced his discomfort about Saudia Arabia’s attitude to women’s rights by commenting: “It’s not my choice to be here; the sport has taken the choice to be here.”

With millions of followers on social media channels, sports stars like Hamilton have an immediate and powerful reach that can focus attention on human rights issues – something that has wrong-footed many teams and sponsors.

In 2022 a global opinion poll commissioned by Amnesty International surveyed 17,477 people from 15 countries. YouGov found that two-thirds believed FIFA’s corporate partners and sponsors should publicly call on FIFA to compensate migrant workers who experienced labour rights harms while preparing for the World Cup in Qatar. This reflects a broader trend for increased consumer awareness when it comes to the social sustainability of products consumed and the changing perception of the brands who produce them.

Like all businesses, those who sponsor athletes, sell products or provide services to sports events have a responsibility to respect human rights, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

However, in July 2022, 14 major sponsors of the Qatar World Cup were surveyed by three human rights organisations. Humans Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Fair/Square found that only four sponsors responded with human rights policies or activities (including remediation) that addressed the specific risks related to the event.

In light of this, the following pointers for businesses and brands involved in future events on a similar scale are worth taking away from the 2022 World Cup.

Clearly state a commitment to respecting human rights and be transparent regarding risks identified and how policies are being operationalised to address these. The recent spotlight on the Qatar World Cup will continue forcing brands and businesses to react to human rights issues that have existed within their environments for years.

Undertake human rights risk-mapping prior to an investment decision or activity in order to reduce the impact on rights-holders. Develop a risk management plan that effectively addresses the root causes of the most significant impacts.

Businesses cannot effectively manage what they do not know. Companies that fail to identify risks early and approach them proactively will be forced to react, often on the back foot.

A gap persists between how human rights risks – even mapped and known risks – are prioritised and managed and the degree to which stakeholders are consulted.

In 2018, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund divested its £66m stake in global security company G4S over an unacceptable risk of the company contributing to systematic human rights violations regarding its workers involved in the security and construction of venues for the World Cup in Qatar. The fund said that although G4S knew about the risks it had not done enough to address them.

Once the above-mentioned risk management plan has been developed, communicate the plan clearly to all relevant stakeholders.

Develop remediation strategies that are appropriate to the harms being addressed by understanding stakeholders’ individual needs.

In May 2022, a global coalition of labour unions, fan groups and human rights organisations called on FIFA and Qatar to establish a programme to remedy identified human rights abuses related to the 2022 World Cup. This focused on providing financial compensation to the families of those who died while building the infrastructure to support the event.

Remedy is more than providing financial compensation when harms occur. It can take many forms, such as rehabilitation, assurance of non-repetition, or a simple acknowledgement that an impact has occurred. By properly understanding human rights harms, and the needs of the rights-holders that are impacted, an effective remediation plan can be developed. Where such a plan is not in place or communicated to stakeholders, additional risks can be created.