FairSquare

15 British, Egyptian and international organisations have called on UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy to put a hold on any new economic or financial partnerships with Egypt, unless and until British national and writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah is freed. The British government has been seeking Alaa Abd el-Fattah’s release since 2022 but on 29 September, when his five year sentence came to an end, the Egyptian authorities did not release him, refusing to consider the two years he spent in pre-trial detention as “time served”. The FCDO states that the Egyptian government “does not recognise Mr El-Fattah as a British national”. Meanwhile Egypt is vigorously pursuing new investments and financial support from the UK. On 3 October, the Egyptian Prime Minister’s office announced that he had discussed with British ministers the idea of an UK-Egypt investment conference to “pump British investments”. The UK is the largest single foreign investor in Egypt, and the annual trade between the two countries is around £4.5 billion. In a joint letter sent on 1 November, the organisations called on David Lammy to, “insist that Alaa be released before there can be any further discussion of closer economic ties. This would send a powerful message to the Egyptian government that their mistreatment of a British national is hampering the normal course of economic cooperation and the closer partnership that Egypt is pursuing, and would create an incentive to Egypt to resolve the case.” In opposition, David Lammy was a strong supporter of the campaign for Alaa’s release, and called for the previous Conservative government to progress the case by using the “tremendous leverage” of Britain’s large trading relationship with Egypt Caabu (Council for Arab-British Understanding) The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy Middle East Democracy Center REDRESS Committee to Protect Journalists The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) EgyptWide for Human Rights Egyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR) Jonas H. International Service for Human Rights Campaign Against Arms Trade War on Want https://lnkd.in/edBvU8n4

Caabu is among 15 British, Egyptian and international organisations who have issued a joint letter calling on UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy to put a hold on any new economic or financial partnerships with Egypt, unless and until British national and writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah is freed. https://lnkd.in/eVuhu6P3 Caabu (Council for Arab-British Understanding), Campaign Against Arms Trade, The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), Committee to Protect Journalists, Egyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR), EgyptWide for Human Rights, FairSquare, International Service for Human Rights, Middle East Democracy Center, REDRESS, The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, War on Want #Egypt #FreedomforAlaa

Calling the report “shockingly poor”, James Lynch, co-director of human rights group FairSquare, said AS&H Clifford Chance had “helped to remove a key final stumbling block” to awarding the tournament to Saudi Arabia, while ALQST for Human Rights, a Saudi Arabian diaspora organisation, said it served to “whitewash the reality of abuse and discrimination faced by Saudi Arabia’s citizens and residents”. https://lnkd.in/e6DgfV5B

Fifa is not fit to govern and should be the subject of widespread reform, a new report has argued, starting with the way money is used to “buy the political support of member associations”. The report, compiled by the human rights advocacy group FairSquare and built on interviews with more than 100 people, calls for greater transparency from football’s governing body and argues outside regulation may be necessary for the organisation to live up to its values. “Football is far too socially, politically and economically important to be governed this poorly,” said Nick McGeehan, the FairSquare director and lead author of the report. “Only external regulation will provide the foundations for Fifa to deliver on football’s transformative potential and to prevent the organisation from causing more serious harm.” The report argues that Fifa’s governance issues – where it is subject to legal action from players’ unions and under attack from human rights organisations – can be traced to the way funds are distributed to member associations.

A major new report from FairSquare, published today, identifies serious structural flaws within FIFA, football’s global governing body, that have resulted in the organisation contributing to a wide range of social harms, not least very serious and systematic human rights abuses, and that preclude it from fulfilling one of its core stated objectives of developing the game. Substitute: The case for the external reform of FIFA, a 174-page report based on extensive research, addresses FIFA’s governance practices and assesses the impact of its operations both before and after a set of critical governance reforms implemented in 2016. It concludes that there has been little to no improvement since these reforms, and that in some key elements of FIFA’s operations there has been obvious regression. The report argues that FIFA is not capable of self-regulation and that in the absence of external reform it will continue to cause or exacerbate human rights abuses and other social harms. Nicholas McGeehan, co-director of FairSquare and lead author, said: “FIFA is a commercial rights holder, a development organisation, a competition organiser, and a global regulator, all rolled into one big mess. Commercially, it’s a hugely successful organisation, but it has been grossly negligent in addressing the eye-watering list of human rights abuses linked to its operations, and from the perspective of the development of the game, most notably the development of the women’s game, it appears to be irredeemably dysfunctional.”

🔥JUST IN New report by FairSquare identifies serious structural flaws within FIFA, resulting in FIFA contributing to ❌ a wide range of social harms ❌ human rights abuses External reform needed, FIFA not capable of self-regulation❗️ 👉https://lnkd.in/dKrrhCSz

FairSquare and 10 other organisations said today that a flawed human rights assessment of Saudi Arabia’s FIFA 2034 World Cup bid by AS&H Clifford Chance – part of the global partnership of London-based law firm Clifford Chance – leaves the global firm at risk of being linked to abuses which result from the tournament. AS&H Clifford Chance, which is based in Riyadh and sits within Clifford Chance’s integrated global partnership, produced an “independent human rights context assessment” that was published by FIFA and which has helped pave the way for Saudi Arabia to be confirmed as 2034 hosts on 11 December, as is widely expected to happen. The assessment contains no substantive discussion of extensive and relevant abuses in Saudi Arabia documented by multiple human rights organisations and UN bodies. It formed the basis of Saudi Arabia’s human rights strategy for the tournament, which was described by Amnesty International as a “whitewash”. The 11 organisations, which include a Saudi Arabian diaspora organisation, Gulf human rights groups, and labour organisations, as well as Football Supporters Europe, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, wrote to Clifford Chance’s Global Managing Partner, setting out in detail all the concerns in this statement, and inviting the authors to publish an updated report. The firm, which says that it works in partnership with “some of the world’s leading NGOs and civil society organisations”, said in response last week that it would be “inappropriate” to offer any further comment on the report and shared a link to publicly available company policies. “It has been clear for more than a year now that FIFA is determined to remove all potential obstacles to make sure it can hand Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the 2034 World Cup,” said James Lynch, co-director of FairSquare, which led the joint approach to the law firm. “By producing a shockingly poor report, AS&H Clifford Chance, part of one of the world’s largest law firms that makes much of its human rights expertise, has helped to remove a key final stumbling block.” https://lnkd.in/eWf2TAQN

Look out for FairSquare’s new 150+ page report on the future of football, out on Thursday. If you’d like to attend a London launch event on Wednesday evening, please get in touch with a private message.

A new essay by FairSquare consultant researcher Usman Jawed, published in Article 14, highlights the challenges faced by Indian migrant workers who take up jobs in the Gulf states, with a particular focus on the state of Telegana. India gets more remittances from its nationals working abroad than any other country, with the World Migration Report putting the figure at $111 billion (Rs 9.1 lakh crore) for 2022. Often from families with little or no land, the remittances from these workers are an extraordinarily important source of sustenance for households and indirectly sustain local economies. However, these workers do not find a voice in the Indian political or policy sphere, and the government does little to address exploitative practices and rights abuses. Unexplained deaths, life-altering injuries, debt and wage theft are common. The government of Telangana recently promised the creation of a Gulf Workers Welfare Board, and has initiated the process of making payments to families of migrants who died in the Gulf. This is generating some optimism, though migrants are waiting to see if words turn into action. Vijendra, who spent five years working in the UAE, said: “We have never seen any government take up this issue in our interest. It is good now that they are saying these things, but let’s see what they do.” https://lnkd.in/ebiZQCzi