Dutch football assoc. presents new guideline for events in controversial countries

Dutch football association KNVB wrote a new guideline for participating in sports events in countries that have a dodgy reputation regarding human rights, like Qatar where the World Cup will be held in 2022. The KNVB and Dutch government hope that the Human Rights & Sport Covenant will help improve the situation in controversial countries, the Volkskrant reported.

With the new guideline, the KNVB is teaming up with governments and human rights organizations to conduct more research into human rights abuses in controversial countries, publicize the abuses, and to hold discussions and exert pressure on these countries to improve the situation. 

The KNVB does not want to boycott tournaments in controversial countries completely. According to to the association, sports should not be the victim of human rights violations. A tournament like the World Cup can also help put human rights violations in controversial countries in the spotlight, the KNVB said.

But the association also doesn't want to ignore the problems. The Human Rights & Sports Covenant should provide more clarity on how to deal with such situations.