Today, local elected officials from cities that are hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup released a unity letter highlighting concerns with the games and demanding that FIFA uphold human rights protections. The letter includes demands around transparency, addressing housing impacts, rejecting surveillance, enforcing labor protections, protecting immigrants and foreign visitors, and taking accountability for costs to host cities.
FIFA has a history of shadowy activity, including entrenched corruption, worker exploitation and discrimination from the Qatar games. The 2025 Club World Cup in the US surfaced 145 human rights concerns, highlighting the possible risk that cities will likely face this summer. Signatories expressed concerns about consequences of hosting mega-events including displacement of long-term residents, housing shortages, labor abuses, ICE fears, and ticket price gouging.
This letter comes after previous attempts to call on FIFA to uphold human rights protections. Human rights action plans that FIFA committed to have been long delayed since their original October release date. Earlier this year, three local elected officials also released an op-ed calling on FIFA to uphold its human rights promises. And in December, the Dignity 2026 Coalition of human rights and community-based organizations held a press conference demanding that FIFA act on human rights.