DUBAI, OCT 30: An independent human rights assessment prepared for Saudi Arabia's successful 2034 World Cup bid is "flawed" and "misleading", rights groups said on Tuesday.
The report, commissioned by the Saudi bid, by Riyadh-based law firm AS&H Clifford Chance ignores fundamental standards such as the International Bill of Rights, 11 groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said.
The document also makes "highly selective" use of United Nations assessments and fails to consult credible external stakeholders, such as Saudi human rights experts, they said.
The assessment was drawn up as Saudi Arabia pushed to host the 2034 World Cup. The world's top oil exporter quickly emerged as the sole bidder and will be rubber-stamped in December.
No comment was immediately available from the law firm or Saudi authorities. The statement's other signatories included FairSquare, Equidem, Football Supporters Europe and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights.
The report "contains no substantive discussion of extensive and relevant abuses in Saudi Arabia, documented by multiple human rights organisations and UN bodies, and has formed the basis of Saudi Arabia's human rights strategy for the tournament", a joint statement said.
"The apparent failure to include the perspective of credible external stakeholders is at odds with available guidance on how to assess human rights," it added.
"Combined with the exclusion of key internationally recognised human rights, and the selective use of assessments by UN bodies, (it) serves to create an artificially limited, misleading and overly positive perspective on the human rights challenges in Saudi Arabia." —AFP