Report on 2034 World Cup bidders Saudi Arabia is ‘flawed’, say 11 human rights groups

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Eleven leading human rights organisations have rounded on Clifford Chance, a leading global law firm whose Saudi operation produced a 39-page document published by the world football governing body FIFA, claiming it represents a “flawed” assessment of Saudi Arabia as the country bids to host the 2034 World Cup.

They also suggest the report risks the company being “linked to abuses which result” from the tournament.

When the current FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, was first elected in 2016, FIFA faced major criticism due to Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers in the construction of the tournament and, as such, FIFA set out a policy insisting that future World Cup hosts must have a human rights strategy and also deliver a context assessment of the risks associated with a nation hosting the tournament.

Currently, Saudi Arabia are the sole bidder for the 2034 edition of the men’s World Cup and although the bidding process has not been completed and is subject to a vote, Infantino appeared to undermine FIFA’s leverage when he said that Saudi is “set to be” the host nation for 2034 on his Instagram page almost exactly one year ago.

That was after FIFA announced a mega-edition bid for the 2030 World Cup, which would be hosted across three continents (Africa, Europe and South America) and six countries (Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay). This ruled those three continents out of bidding for the following World Cup in 2034, while the joint United States, Canada and Mexico event for 2026 made a return to North America unlikely.

That left the pathway almost entirely clear for Saudi Arabia as an Asian representative to host the 2034 edition, particularly when Australia dropped out, and since that announcement last October, Infantino has not held a single press conference to take questions on the matter. Both the 2030 and 2034 host decisions remain subject to an online vote of FIFA member nations on December 11, but neither bid has a rival and is widely seen as formalities.

Now, 11 organisations — including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, a Saudi Arabian diaspora organisation and human rights groups specialising in the Gulf region — have raised major concerns about the credibility of a report entitled “Independent Context Assessment Prepared for the Saudi Arabian Football Federation in relation to the FIFA World Cup 2034”.

The report was produced by AS&H Clifford Chance, which is the Saudi arm of global law firm Clifford Chance, and published by FIFA in July. It formed a key part of Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the tournament. Only last week, at a marquee event in Dubai, AS&H Clifford Chance (a joint venture between Clifford Chance and Abuhimed Alsheikh Alhagbani Law Firm) was named the Saudi Arabian Firm of the Year. Dr Fahad Abuhimed, a managing partner, said: “This award is a reflection of unwavering commitment to delivering outstanding results to our clients in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

On Monday, the 11 human rights organisations issued an extensive joint press release, which expressed “deep concern” about the report.

It begins: “A flawed human rights assessment of Saudi Arabia’s FIFA 2034 World Cup bid by AS&H Clifford Chance — part of the global partnership of London-based law firm Clifford Chance — leaves the global firm at risk of being linked to abuses which result from the tournament.”

The Athletic has also seen a 15-page letter sent to Charles Adams, the global managing partner of Clifford Chance, on October 7, setting out the concerns and issuing a two-week deadline for response. The only response received by the rights groups from Clifford Chance was to say that it would be “inappropriate” for the law firm to comment beyond their published report. The response did not address any of the points made. The Athletic also received no response from Clifford Chance and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation to all matters raised within this article.

In the press release, the groups claim that “Saudi Arabia’s already dire human rights record has deteriorated under the de facto rule of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman”, and they cite a “soaring number of mass executions, torture, enforced disappearance, severe restrictions on free expression, repression of women’s rights under the male guardianship system, LGBTI+ discrimination, and the killing of hundreds of migrants at the Saudi Arabia-Yemen border”.

They add that “the country’s abusive Kafala (labour sponsorship) system, as well as the prohibition on trade unions and lack of enforcement of labour laws, continues to lead to the widespread exploitation of migrant workers”. The latter point is even more significant in relation to the 2034 World Cup as Saudi Arabia has stated an intention to build 11 new stadiums ahead of the tournament.

The letter directed to Clifford Chance on October 7 highlights three key concerns.

The first is that the report excludes a large number of internationally recognised human rights from its assessment. The letter claims this is because “either Saudi Arabia has not ratified the relevant treaties or because the Saudi Football Federation did not recognise them as ‘applying’ to the assessment”. This means the assessment avoids delving into matters many would consider pertinent to Saudi, notably relating to freedom of expression, association and assembly, as well as LGBTQI+ discrimination, the prohibition of trade unions, the right to freedom of religion and forced evictions.

The letter goes on to say “this is wholly out of line with international standards and best practice to agree to the exclusion of certain internationally recognised human rights from a human rights context assessment”.

Under the scope and methodology section of the report by AS&H Clifford Chance, they say the scope of their assessment was “determined by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation in agreement with FIFA”.

This implies that FIFA itself approved the omissions. Yet FIFA’s own human rights policy, published on its website in May 2017, says that FIFA is committed to respecting human rights in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Under the guiding principles, human rights assessments should “include all internationally recognized human rights as a reference point, since enterprises may potentially impact virtually any of these rights”.

Amnesty International has written to FIFA asking it “to confirm on what basis the organisation agreed with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation to limit the scope of the rights assessment”, but as of October 25, FIFA had not replied.

FIFA did not respond to any specific points raised by the rights groups or to questions by The Athletic. FIFA did say they are overseeing a “thorough bid process” and that an “evaluation report” for the Saudi bid will be published ahead of the Extraordinary FIFA Congress on December 11.

The letter sent on October 7 also argues that the AS&H Clifford Chance report made “highly selective use of the findings and assessments of United Nations and International Labour Organisation committees in relation to the nature of human rights risks in Saudi Arabia, excluding important, critical and salient findings”.

The AS&H Clifford Chance report also states that it was based on six weeks of desk-based research and engagement only with Saudi government ministries, including Saudi Arabia’s state-run Human Rights Commission, the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Sport, all of which were facilitated by the Saudi Football Federation. The human rights organisations, in their letter, says it found no evidence that AS&H Clifford Chance consulted “credible external stakeholders”, including human rights defenders, international human rights organisations or trade unions to inform its report.

The result, according to the human rights groups, is that this report “will likely play a critical role in enabling Saudi Arabia to host the World Cup, the hosting and staging of which risks multiple and serious human rights impacts”.

Within human rights groups, there had been much speculation as to how FIFA and Saudi Arabia would navigate the issue of living up to FIFA’s own human rights policy.

According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, who wished to remain anonymous owing to the sensitivity of the matter, The Athletic has learned that it is likely that other firms were approached with a view to conducting this risk assessment and we understand one rebuffed the possibility. This was partly due to reputational concerns for their companies, as well as fears for staff members or future work if they were to do a thorough and comprehensive report taking into account all concerns within Saudi Arabia, while others were worried they would not receive a full payment if the job was not deemed satisfactory to its Saudi paymasters.

Clifford Chance, who are co-chair of the Business and Human Rights Lawyers Association, has previously been commended by rights groups after they joined forces with the Centre for Sport and Human Rights to produce a report on the human rights plans for the cities hosting the World Cup in 2026, due to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

In that report, Clifford Chance did not discard conventions or treaties which are not signed up to by the United States. For example, the rights groups highlighted how the U.S. has not ratified the UN Convention on the Right of the Child, yet the Clifford Chance report in 2022 still stated the importance of cities including a child safeguarding plan in their proposal while citing the UN Convention. It appears that the report made for Saudi Arabia has demonstrated greater compliance with the prospective hosts of the 2034 tournament.

The letter from the rights groups to Clifford Chance also explains how, on its global website, Clifford Chance states that its clients in Saudi Arabia include “key Saudi Ministries and government-owned entities as well as a wide range of government-owned, privately and publicly held Saudi and international businesses, listed companies and financial institutions”.

The letter then asks Clifford Chance to disclose “any lawyer-client relationship between Clifford Chance and/or AS&H Clifford Chance and the Government of Saudi Arabia during the preparation of this assessment, as well as whether the government of Saudi Arabia was consulted or had sight of a draft of the assessment pre-publication”.

Clifford Chance did not address this point in response to the rights groups or when The Athletic contacted the firm for comment. They also did not respond when asked by The Athletic how a report commissioned by and paid for by the Saudi Football Federation can claim to be an “independent” assessment. FIFA did not respond when asked whether they have any concerns about whether the integrity of the report is compromised.

James Lynch, co-director of the FairSquare human rights organisation, which led the joint letter sent to Clifford Chance, said in a press release: “It has been clear for more than a year now that FIFA is determined to remove all potential obstacles to make sure it can hand Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the 2034 World Cup.

“By producing a shockingly poor report, AS&H Clifford Chance, part of one of the world’s largest law firms that makes much of its human rights expertise, has helped to remove a key final stumbling block.”

(Top photo: Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images)

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