Media Advisory

For Immediate Release
FIFA: Follow Own Rules on Israeli Settlement Clubs
Council Considering Recommendations Ahead of Expected Congress Decision

(New York, May 9, 2017) – FIFA, the world football federation, should abide by its statutes and human rights responsibilities and instruct the Israel Football Association to stop holding games in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Human Rights Watch, Avaaz and EuMEP said, as the FIFA Council prepared to discuss the issue today.

Tokyo Sexwale, chair of the monitoring committee established by FIFA to address the issue, is presenting his recommendations to the FIFA Council, an executive body of 31 football officials, today in Manama, Bahrain. The issue is expected to be decided by the full FIFA Congress meeting two days later, on May 11.

"Why is FIFA continuing to sponsor games in unlawful Israeli settlements, on land stolen from Palestinians?” said Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “FIFA’s Congress should vote to follow its own statutes, which include respecting human rights.”

Along with civil society organizations and parliamentarians across the world, Human Rights Watch, Avaaz  and EuMEP have called for FIFA to bar its affiliate, the Israeli Football Association (IFA), from organizing football activities in West Bank settlements, because those settlements are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention, and contribute to serious human rights abuses. Six IFA football clubs are based in settlements and host their official home matches there, on land unlawfully taken from and off-limits to Palestinians.

“Hundreds of thousands of football fans are telling FIFA to stop violating its own rules and international law,” said Fadi Quran, senior campaigner at Avaaz. "There's only one non-political, fair solution: No more Israeli FIFA games in illegal settlements built on stolen Palestinian land."

A leading international law expert published a paper last week arguing that settlement clubs violate FIFA statutes, which include a commitment to respect human rights. In April 2016, Professor John Ruggie authored a report for FIFA on how the body needs to entrench human rights across the federation’s operations.  Ruggie’s recommendations for FIFA are based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the global standard on business and human rights of which he is the author.

FIFA’s statutes also prohibit a member association from holding games on the territory of another member association without its permission. When Russia occupied Crimea in 2014, FIFA’s European affiliate UEFA blocked Russia from incorporating teams from Crimea in its national league, on the basis of the same rule.

For more information, please contact:

* In Johannesburg, Sari Bashi (English, Hebrew): +972-3-3727609 (mobile) or bashis@hrw.org Twitter: @saribashi

* In transit, Omar Shakir (English, Arabic): +1-646-725-8650 (mobile) or shakiro@hrw.org Twitter: @omarsshakir

* In transit, Fadi Quran (English, Arabic): +972597599446 (mobile) or fadi@avaaz.org Twitter: @avaaz_news

* In transit, Martin Konecny (English, Dutch, Czech), +32 484 601 283 (mobile) or martin.konecny@eumep.org. Twitter: @martinkonecny

* In New York, Minky Worden, (English): +1-917-497-0540 (mobile); or wordenm@hrw.org
* In Washington, DC, Eric Goldstein (English, French): +1-917-519-4736 (mobile); or goldstr@hrw.org. Twitter: @goldsteinricky
* In Washington, DC, Ahmed Benchemsi (English, French, Arabic): +1-929-343-7973 (mobile) or benchea@hrw.org. Twitter: @ahmedbenchamsi