A few days before the World Cup final, several organizations condemned massive human rights violations during the tournament in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. With respect to human rights, this was “not a good World Cup,” said Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch at a press conference in New York. There was also discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Worden criticized especially the United States and FIFA: “This World Cup was played against the backdrop of the abusive hard‑line crackdown by the U.S. government against immigrants and FIFA’s failure to uphold its own human rights standards,” she said.
Several Deaths
After months of relative calm around the U.S. immigration agency ICE, there have been in recent days several deaths connected to the agency’s operations. Among them, one immigrant was shot in the state of Texas and another in Maine. For these two men there should be a moment of silence at the start of Sunday’s final, demanded Worden. The Trump administration had weaponized the World Cup, argued the human rights organizations.
Many fans from around the world were also prevented from attending—including by overpriced ticket prices and strict visa rules. “It was a World Cup for the few lucky,” said Ronan Evain of the organization Football Supporters Europe. “A very American World Cup.”
“Countless queer football fans had to stay home”
Moreover, journalists did not have sufficient freedom in their reporting, and people from the queer community often did not feel supported or safe, it was said. Lily Dong Li Rosengard of the queer umbrella organization ILGA World explained: “Because of transphobic immigration policies and an increasing anti-LGBTI rhetoric and policy in the United States, countless queer football fans who dream of attending the World Cup had to make the painful decision to stay home,” Rosengard said. “FIFA promised a celebration of diversity and inclusion, but did very little to make that a reality.”
Already ahead of the tournament, Human Rights Watch warned that the World Cup could be “a potential human rights catastrophe.” FIFA has integrated human rights requirements into the bidding procedures for events and lists human rights as a strategic goal.
