Geneva: A group of United Nations experts on Tuesday called on the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to suspend Israel's participation in international football as a response to the ongoing genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory.
According to Kuwait News Agency, this call to action came in a statement issued in Geneva by a group of UN experts and special rapporteurs, including Alexandra Xanthaki, UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, and Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The experts affirmed that the UN Commission of Inquiry concluded that the Israeli occupation is committing genocide, aligning with numerous international bodies. They highlighted the ICJ's 26 January 2024 Interim Order, which reminded all states of their legal duty to act.
The experts emphasized that the international obligations to prevent and punish the crime of genocide apply to all, at all times, and without exception. They stressed that sport cannot ignore grave human rights violations, particularly when its platforms are used to normalize injustice.
The statement noted, "National teams representing States that commit massive human rights violations can and should be suspended, as has happened in the past."
Private international organizations such as international sports associations like FIFA and UEFA are bound by international human rights law in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
The experts urged FIFA and UEFA to fulfill their obligations not to provide aid or assistance that would help maintain the situation created by the Israeli occupation's illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
They further called on FIFA to stop legitimizing the situation resulting from the Israeli occupation's unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, underlining that FIFA has a legal and moral duty to take all possible measures to stop the genocide in Gaza now.