In a new campaign, Amnesty International is calling on the KNVB and Dutch Premier League clubs to denounce human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. At the end of July, the country was the only one to submit a bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, but in the meantime dozens of people remain detained in the kingdom for defending human rights.
These are often violated by the regime. For example, fitness instructor Manahel Al-Otabi was sentenced to eleven years in prison for wearing “indecent clothing” in the gym. Housewife Salma Al-Shehab was sentenced to 27 years for tweets supporting women’s rights. In the past six years, the authorities have set a national record by executing 764 people, according to Amnesty. Amnesty considers the human rights situation in the country to be “historically poor”.
Sports wash
That is why the human rights organisation calls the World Cup bid “sportswashing”, in which the Saudi government, under the leadership of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, wants to cover up repression by hosting the most important sporting tournament in Saudi Arabia. the world.
The World Football Federation, FIFA, will make a final decision on the host country in December, which seems a formality given the absence of competition. However, Saudi Arabia had to explain in the bid how the country will guarantee human rights during the tournament, to avoid a repeat of the abuses committed at the previous World Cup in neighbouring Qatar.
However, the Saudis’ brief explanation in that paragraph has been criticised. According to Amnesty’s director Dagmar Oudshoorn, the human rights plan is “seriously deficient”, does not meet FIFA’s requirements and the current proposal should not be put to a vote.
Amnesty wants Saudi Arabia and FIFA to reach legally binding agreements on human rights around the World Cup. Oudshoorn also wants the KNVB and Premier League clubs to express their support for the prisoners and “set the lower limit loud and clear” at FIFA.
Jan de Jong, as president of the Eredivisie CV, which represents the interests of the Premier League clubs, wants to raise the Saudi issue with FIFA. “No one can be against the observance of human rights,” he says. Fidelity“This applies to all Premier League clubs. Partly on the initiative of the Netherlands, this has become a condition for hosting a major tournament. This is a considerable step forward, especially compared to the past. We hope that this will now be taken seriously. Together with the KNVB, we will continue to insist on this at FIFA.”
Lift it with FIFA
The stories of Al-Otabi and El-Shehab “also affect the KNVB,” said a spokesman. The football association believes it is important that sufficient attention is paid to human rights, but will first carefully study the application and await FIFA’s response.
In January this year, the KNVB already hinted at its views on a World Cup in Saudi Arabia in an appendix at the end of the minutes of a meeting. In it, then-Secretary General Just Spee stated that the KNVB is not an activist organisation but a football association that “wants to win anywhere in the world”. According to Spee, the KNVB would have little influence on the human rights policy of host countries.
De Jong is also not “so naive” as to believe that he can make an immediate difference. “But every effort, every discussion, every attention is worth it.”
Read also:
KNVB remains outside FIFA’s human rights committee
The KNVB will not be part of FIFA’s human rights committee, which is due to assess Saudi Arabia’s bid for the 2034 World Cup.
