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Human Rights Volunteer Roles to Return for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

Human Rights Volunteer Roles to Return for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

Alkass Digital

Following the success of the human rights volunteer pilot project at the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021, it has been confirmed that the role will be expanded for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

The pilot project at the tournament in November and December 2021 involved 12 human rights volunteers being trained by the FIFA Human Rights team, with support from civil society organizations working in the field of sport and human rights. This was the first time that the new concept of human rights volunteers had been implemented at a major sporting event.

At the FIFA Arab Cup, the 12 human rights volunteers performed a wide range of outreach work, which included more than 565 interviews with fans across 29 matches to learn about their experiences. The information gathered was then fed back to the FIFA Human Rights team, who ensured follow-up in collaboration with the relevant FIFA functional areas and host country partners. The human rights volunteers also raised awareness of the FIFA World Cup grievance mechanism in their engagements with fans.

Head of Human Rights & Anti-Discrimination at FIFA Andreas Graf said: "We were delighted that the human rights volunteer project helped us to very concretely improve the protection of persons attending the FIFA Arab Cup. We learned a lot from the real-time information gathered through the pilot, and the feedback from the volunteers themselves, and from external stakeholders who accompanied the project, was very positive." "It is our hope that the pilot will be followed by another successful delivery at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, when we will be expanding the initiative to include 96 human rights volunteers and ten team leaders. I would like to encourage anyone who is interested in this unique experience to sign up today. We are greatly looking forward to welcoming a diverse and motivated group of volunteers." The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Volunteer Program was officially launched in March. Applications are still being accepted for a wide range of roles, including for human rights volunteers. Applicants can highlight their interest in this role when registering in the system.