The football executive who has sought to hold Fifa to its commitments on human rights in Qatar has called on the governing body to publish its report on possible failings at the World Cup.
Lise Klaveness, the president of the Norwegian Football Federation, wrote to Fifa a year ago calling for an inquest into the legacy left by the Qatar World Cup and, specifically, a lack of financial remedy for mistreated migrant workers. In response the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, commissioned a report from the organisation’s human rights and social responsibility subcommittee. That report is yet to arrive and Klaveness argues that a lack of transparency over publication speaks to a broader problem within Fifa.
“We are really waiting for the report,” Klaveness told the Guardian. “My impression, not through direct channels but the word on the ground, was that it should be ready around Christmas and it was not. So we are now a bit [further on] and more impatiently waiting for it. It’s one year after the World Cup, it should come now.
“I think it’s due. It’s very important that it’s transparent and now we don’t really know when it’s coming or how it will come. I think it would be an advantage if Fifa used this process to deal with what is part of the problem, to be predictable and transparent because that is part of the job now, to make a transparent report.”
The Qatar World Cup was controversial from the moment the Gulf state was awarded hosting rights in 2010 and the maltreatment of migrant workers became a subject of international concern. Under pressure to provide financial remedy for injured workers or to the families of those whose loved ones died, in 2022 Fifa signalled it would be open to such a solution.
That position changed during the tournament, however, with Infantino ultimately suggesting a legacy fund would be used to develop the game across the world instead.
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Fifa has adopted the UN’s guiding principles on the business and human rights which, under principle 25, asks that signatories take “appropriate steps” to ensure those harmed by any business operation have “effective access to remedy”.
In a letter to the Fifa secretary general last year, the Norwegian FA wrote: “It is important that we as a football community can demonstrate commitment and compliance with our Human Rights policy, now and in the future. We request from Fifa a commitment to assess whether it has fulfilled its responsibility to remedy related to the 2022 World Cup.”
Klaveness said she remained hopeful of the report delivering “concrete and good measures” which could in turn influence discussion over Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the 2034 World Cup: the unopposed proposal is set to be rubber-stamped by Fifa in the fourth quarter of this year.
Sources have suggested to the Guardian that a draft of the Qatar report has been submitted to Fifa. There is no set date for publication.
