Since FIFA awarded the men's World Cup to Qatar, thousands of migrant workers have died working on infrastructure projects in the country; and despite some improvement in conditions and contracts, migrant workers rights are still tenuous and for the families of those that have been seriously injured or have died there has been little compensation or support.

#PayUpFIFA is a campaign supported by many human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that is asking FIFA to urgently:

• Commit to establishing with Qatar a comprehensive remediation programme to address abuses suffered by migrant workers in the preparation and delivery of the 2022 World Cup that remain outstanding;
• Set aside no less than US$440 million to fund remedy of such abuses, with the harms to be redressed and reparation measures to be offered being decided through a participatory process and subject to an independent evaluation; and
• Enhance and strictly implement its human rights criteria for future events and strengthen its human rights due diligence processes.

Seven football associations and several sponsors have backed this call to action but as yet there has been no response or action from FIFA.

How to respond to this? What can we do other than sign the campaign letter addressed to Gianni Infantino? Well, how about boycotting FIFA partners and sponsors until FIFA agree to sign up, pay up and support the workers who have constructed the essential infrastructure for the tournament.

What do we want the outcome of this petition to be? 

1. Put pressure on FIFA to pay reparations to migrant workers and their families in line with the #PayUpFIFA campaign by applying pressure to their partners and sponsors.

2. Encourage FIFA partners and sponsors to urge FIFA to think twice before making any future decisions about awarding the tournament to a nation which allows modern day slavery and abuse basic labour and human rights.

The more signatures, the greater the impact. Sign the petition, spread the word and  deliver a  strong message to FIFA.

FIFA Partners:

Adidas
Coca Cola
Wanda Group
Hyundai/Kia Motors
Qatar Airways
QatarEnergy
Visa

FIFA World Cup '22 sponsors:
 
Budweiser
Byju’s
Crypto.com
Hisense
McDonald’s
Mengniu Dairy
Vivo

What are you pledging to do?

To boycott one or more FIFA Partners and Sponsors from November 20th-December 18th 2022 

(Remember the sponsors often have many subsidiary brands. For example, Coca Cola hasFanta, Monster, Smart Water, Reign, Oasis, Dr Pepper, Sprite, Relentless, Powerade, Vitamin Water, Appletiser, Costa Coffee, Schweppes, Lilt; and Budweiser, which is part of Anheuser-Busch InBev, has Becks, Corona, Hoegaarden, Leffe, Stella Artois and more).

Here is our letter:

Dear Gianni Infantino,

Migrant workers' families spread across countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, and Kenya have lost loved ones, sometimes in the very stadiums where the game is being played. There is nothing FIFA or Qatar or anyone could ever do to make up for the loss of a loved one, but remedies that provide some financial respite for families who are struggling to survive without their breadwinner is their responsibility to fulfill.

Your call to now focus on the football is impossible unless justice is done. FIFA needs to ensure at least the equivalent to the US$440 million prize money provided to teams participating in the 2022 World Cup is invested in funds to compensate workers, and initiatives to improve workers' protections.

If when the World Cup starts, FIFA and it’s major sponsors have not ensured a compensation fund is in place with or without the Qatari Govts support, the people signing this letter will write to inform key sponsors from McDonalds to AB-In Bev we will boycott their products for a month/until a compensation fund is in place.

There is no excuse not to compensate victims of abuse and their families. The beautiful game cannot be preserved if the real legacy of this tournament is destitute families of the deceased or abused migrant workers.

(The photo featured with our petition was taken by Kailash Nirmal and is of Latha Bollapally, with her son Rajesh Goud, holding a picture of her husband, Madhu Bollapally, 43, a migrant worker who died in Qatar).