Context

With the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 now 6 months away, national football teams and their associations are preparing to make several key decisions about their stay in Qatar, including booking the hotels they will be based at and contracting services such as security or transport. All teams (besides the hosts) have now qualified to participate in the tournament when it kicks-off in November.

Evidence from our own data, research from partners on the ground and recent media reporting continues to show migrant hotel workers in Qatar remain at high risk of serious labour abuses, even in hotels endorsed by FIFA to provide luxury match packages. Many more workers will be employed by other companies providing services to teams and their support staff such as transportation or security. Abuse suffered by workers starts with the recruitment process in their own country and continues while in post, in the hospitality, construction and other industries essential for the success of the World Cup.

Outreach

Starting in December 2021, we approached the associations of the 31 qualified teams and invited them to disclose information in response to the following questions:

1. Have you carried out a human rights risk assessment regarding your participation in the Qatar World Cup? If so, please outline the risks identified.
2. Please disclose the name of the hotel(s) booked to host your national team and staff during the World Cup.
3. Please set out what human rights due diligence you undertook prior to booking the hotel or are undertaking in preparation for selecting a base camp and other facilities/amenities eg. transport, security or leisure facilities.

Responses from the football associations of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Denmark, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, the USA and Wales can be read in full below.

The football associations of Argentina, Cameroon, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Ghana, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Tunisia and Uruguay have not responded.

FIFA also provided responses to the following questions:

1. Please describe the process by which football associations of teams qualified for the World Cup are assigned hotel properties for the duration of the tournament.
2. Where hotels are held to “human rights standards” by FIFA through a “human rights clause”, please clarify what is meant by these standards and clause, including how they will be implemented and monitored.

This page will be updated as non-responding associations provide information and as associations’ preparations continue.