freedom of expression

FIFA: First Week of World Cup Proves Worst Fears
Urgent Action Required from FIFA to Change Course and Show its Human Rights Commitments are Still in Force (Nyon, Switzerland, 25 November, 2022) — Multiple human rights abuses taking place in the first week of the 2022 FIFA Qatar Men’s World Cup reveal significant backsliding within FIFA on human rights, the Sport & Rights Alliance […]

Qatar World Cup 2022: An Open Letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino
Dear President of Fédération Internationale de Football Association, Mr. Infantino, The football men’s World Cup in Qatar has only just started, and the credibility of FIFA in its commitment to human rights is already entirely questionable. There are 28 more days to go, and ILGA World – a global LGBTI human rights organisation representing more […]

CPJ Safety Advisory: Covering the 2022 World Cup
The 2022 FIFA World Cup takes place in Qatar from November 20 to December 18, the first World Cup to be held in the Arab world, and said to be the biggest sporting event held in the Middle East. Journalists working in the small nation bordering Saudi Arabia have faced digital security threats, legal issues, and […]

Qatar: Security Forces Arrest, Abuse LGBT People
Discrimination, Ill-Treatment in Detention, Privacy Violations, Conversion Practices (Beirut) – Qatar Preventive Security Department forces have arbitrarily arrested lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and subjected them to ill-treatment in detention, Human Rights Watch said today. LGBT people interviewed said that their mistreatment took place as recently as September 2022, as Qatar prepared to host the 2022 […]

France: Prefecture of Police Tries to Suppress Women Footballers’ Protest against Lawmakers’ Latest Attempt to Undermine Muslim Women in Sport
An Administrative Tribunal appeal decision issued on 9 February overturned the Paris Prefecture of Police’s ban on a protest organised by women footballers, confirming that the protest should have been able to proceed as planned. The protest organizers had already called off the event in light of the police ban and the Tribunal’s ruling came […]

France: New Law Compels Reform of Football Policy that Discriminates against Muslim Women
On 24 February France adopted a new law aimed at democratising access to sports. A group of Senateurs ultimately failed in their repeated attempts to introduce a discriminatory amendment intended to prohibit women who choose to wear headscarves from participating in all sporting competitions and events organized by state-regulated sports federations and their associate organizations. […]