FIFA has ignored quite a number of human rights risks ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, a development that has seen concerns raised for the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).
After an analysis by AHRC identified 57 risks associated with Australia’s co-hosting of the event, the commission feels response by FIFA “doesn’t engage with the risk assessment in a really comprehensive way”.
Risks identified include the rights of athletes, workers, First Nations people and children. AHRC noted that almost 37% of the issues raised earn a “tier 1” ranking, the most serious of three tiers.
In noting the issues, the commission said, “In and of itself, that’s not surprising.”
AHRC commissioner Lorraine Finlay told The Ticket that, “When you do an in-depth risk analysis like that you will identify a wide variety of human rights issues to think about.”What’s important is what comes next — what do you do when you identify those risks? How do you address them? How do you actually put things into action to make sure that those risks aren’t borne out?
That’s the critical thing.”And that’s where I do have concerns coming into the Women’s World Cup.”
