FIFA World Cup Cannot Only Be Good But Do Good

Be Slavery Free (a charity focussing on ending slavery) knows the power of football (soccer) to prevent and disrupt the drivers of modern slavery. Fuzz Kitto and Carolyn Kitto (Directors of Be Slavery Free) this morning met with Football Australia COO Mark Falvo and shared their first-hand experiences of lives being transformed and slavery prevented through football.

Before the last World Cup, Carolyn Kitto met with the Street Child World Cup team in Bujumbura, Burundi. Whilst they don’t know who Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill are, they were proud, determined, with a strong sense of self-worth and will help build a resilient future for themselves and their country.

Fuzz and Carolyn have both seen football be a healer of tensions between communities in places like Egypt, the Palestinian Territories and Israel.

‘It is remarkable how a round ball and a piece of shared flat earth can bring down barriers and grow community and even friendships,’ says Fuzz Kitto, ‘it can cross, ethical tensions, political and religious differences and even overcome barriers to peace.’

In India, they have seen how the charity Oasis https://www.oasisindia.org/sports/ uses soccer as a means to building positive behaviour, strengthening character and purpose amongst children at risk of being recruited into begging gangs and other forms of slavery.

Football builds confidence and a positive sense of future in places from refugee camps to slums as well as being one of the most elite and well-paying sports in the world,’ says Carolyn Kitto, ‘a positive legacy of this World Cup must include FIFA contributing to make right some of abuse now undeniably associated with them. 

Last week Football Australia[1] and the Socceroos[2] both released statements supporting the establishment of a Migrant Workers Centre but they have stopped short of calling for reparations for the workers who have been injured and the 6,500 or more families who have lost loved ones.

With global partners Freedom United, Be Slavery Free is asking Football Australia to publicly support a compensation fund for migrant workers, equivalent to the prize money of US$440 million. Football Australia was given a petition of almost 5,500 signatures asking for this.

FIFA claims its human rights’ policy is in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights[3]. These Principles require remediation of adverse human rights impacts. Be Slavery Free call on FIFA to meet its own and other international standards through the establishment of a compensation fund that is equivalent to the prize money for FIFA World Cup.

© Scoop Media