On Thursday, UEFA is set to announce the country that will host Euro 2024, with Germany and Turkey the candidates. Freedom of expression is believed to be under threat in Turkey following the failed coup attempt in 2016, with some 228,000 people having been arrested during the country’s state of emergency, among them dozens of journalists. Russia, hosts of the 2018 World Cup, faced similar issues and a number of vocal critics in the build up to their tournament.
For the first time ever, UEFA has included clauses related to the human rights situation in the hosting country as part of its bidding process. In its announcement, UEFA said the bidding country has to “culturally embed human rights,” as well as “proactively address human rights risks.” The term “human rights” was mentioned 11 times in UEFA’s final evaluation report of both Germany and Turkey, which goes to show the importance of both countries’ record in the field. For comparison, the same report released ahead of Euro 2020 did not contain that term at all.
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Everything is ready to go for Euro 2024
Hugh Williamson, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) director, sees that as an “important” development. “It reflects the fact that football does not exist in a vacuum,” he told DW. According to Williamson, human rights issues are “a key aspect determining the nature of the event that takes place.” A tournament in Germany does not carry the same baggage as a tournament in Turkey, or in other countries he says.
DFB seek information on bid opponents
Ahead of the World Cup, the DFB held two high-ranking meetings with numerous key human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and HRW, with a view to discussing the human rights situation in Russia. The first meeting was in May 2017, with a follow-up meeting taking place in March 2018.
While Russia took center stage in the two meetings, DW has learned that DFB officials also showed interest in being briefed about Turkey. In addition, Williamson said Wenzel Michalski, HRW’s Germany director, offered to brief DFB President Reinhard Grindel about the human rights situation in Turkey.
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