March 12 (Reuters) \u2013 Rights groups have urged FIFA to ensure the 2026 World Cup upholds commitments to inclusivity and safety, warning that U.S. immigration policies \u200band concerns over press freedom could undermine the tournament.<\/p>\n
The \u200cSport & Rights Alliance said the governing body had promised a \u201csafe, welcoming and inclusive\u201d competition under its Human Rights Framework but that rhetoric and immigration policies under U.S. President Donald Trump risked creating fear \u200camong \u200bfans, journalists and communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cFootball brings the \u2060world together \u2014 but not \u2060if U.S. visa bans and mass deportation raids keep immigrants, workers, journalists, communities, and fans away,\u201d the coalition of rights groups wrote in a letter to FIFA President \u200bGianni Infantino released on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The 2026 World Cup, the first to feature 48 teams, will be held across \u2060the United States, Canada and Mexico, \u2060with matches staged in 16 host cities.<\/p>\n
Asked \u200babout the concerns, the White House said the administration was \u200bfocused on delivering a successful event.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump is focused \u200con making this the greatest World Cup ever while ensuring it is the safest and most secure in history,\u201d White House spokesman Davis Ingle said when asked for comment.<\/p>\n
The \u2060coalition also urged FIFA to work with host governments to guarantee access for fans and media and to ensure the tournament \u2060respects rights including \u200cfree expression, press freedom and protections for \u2060workers and local communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith weeks until kick-off, \u200bmost \u200cof the 16 World Cup host committees \u200bstill have \u2060not released the Human Rights Action Plans they are supposed to produce,\u201d it said. \u201cIt is impossible to manage human rights risks without identifying them and putting in place systems to manage them.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; Editing \u200bby Andrew Cawthorne)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 12 (Reuters) \u2013 Rights groups have urged FIFA to ensure the 2026 World Cup upholds commitments to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-533180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}