Social Pillar

Rights of media and human rights advocates

Objective: Respect and help protect the rights of media representatives and human rights advocates in relation to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.

The rights of media and human rights advocates material topic aligns with the following UN SDGs:

Context

Journalists and human rights defenders are a group whose rights may be at particular risk due to the nature of their work. At the same time, however, their work at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ is essential for human rights-related efforts to succeed. Human rights defenders bring specific human rights risks to our attention and advise on the effectiveness of measures taken. In some instances, they act as legitimate representatives of people and groups who may be affected by FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ activities. Human rights defenders have the right to express opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of borders.

Under its Human Rights Policy, FIFA affirms that it will “[help] protect those who advocate respect for human rights associated with its activities… [and] respect and not interfere with the work of both human rights defenders who voice concerns about adverse human rights impacts relating to FIFA and media representatives covering FIFA’s events and activities.”

In accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the scope of FIFA’s responsibility to respect and help protect the rights of human rights defenders and media representatives includes situations where FIFA may itself cause or contribute to a potential or actual adverse impact through its own activities. These may also include situations where a potential or actual adverse impact is directly linked to FIFA’s activities through its business relationships with third parties. FIFA further specifies its commitments in this regard in its statement on human rights defenders and media representatives.

Qatar’s constitution enshrines freedom of speech and press. It is within this constitutional framework, and informed by relevant international standards, that FIFA and the host country implemented a set of initiatives with the aim of ensuring that human rights defenders and journalists were able to operate freely in all activities associated with the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.

Initiatives

The rights of media representatives and human rights advocates objective was addressed through the following initiatives:

Protection of human rights defenders and media

Taking reasonable steps to contribute to the protection of human rights defenders and media representatives who are working or reporting on situations linked to tournament-related activities from undue restrictions or interference by third parties.

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Press freedom in accreditation procedures

Including principles of press freedom in accreditation procedures for media representatives to promote a distribution of accreditation quotas that protect the rights of media representatives to freedom of opinion and expression without discrimination.

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