Disgraced Blatter advises FIFA on future reform

Blatter waved goodbye to his long FIFA career last year

(Keystone)

Four months after being baed from football, disgraced former FIFA President Sepp Blatter is back in the limelight – to advise world football’s goveing body on how to put its house in order.

Blatter ruled the roost at FIFA from 1998 until 2015 when he was baed for eight years (later reduced to six) in coection to a suspect CHF2 million ($2.1 million) payment. Blatter maintains his iocence and has lodged another legal appeal.

However, FIFA has moved on, electing a replacement president (Giai Infantino) and washing its hands of its former boss. This appears not to have stopped Blatter from voicing his opinion on FIFA’s future path at a panel discussion at the University of Basel on Friday (watch the livestream below).

Blatter is joined on stage by Luis Moreno Ocampo, former chief prosecutor of the Inteational Criminal Court, and Mark Pieth – who has worked with the Swiss govement and the OECD to crack down on corruption and was contracted by Blatter to consult on FIFA reforms.

The discussion, in front of university law students, is on the subject of ‘moving FIFA on from serious corruption allegations to a transparent and efficient inteational body’. Blatter is no stranger to academic debates having addressed the Oxford Union at Oxford University in 2013.

Human Rights

Harvard University professor John Ruggie contributed this week to the ongoing reform process at FIFA by producing a report on its human rights record. Ruggie authored the United Nations Guiding principles on Business and Human Rights, which were adopted in 2011.

Last December, FIFA asked Ruggie for a critique of its human rights record. This followed allegations of state-backed homophobia in Russia and of construction workers being killed in unsafe conditions in Qatar in the build up to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup touaments.

In February, FIFA’s Congress adopted a series of reforms, including the clause stating that “FIFA is committed to respecting all inteationally recognised human rights and shall strive to promote the protection of these rights.”

Ruggie welcomed the move, but said in his report that FIFA still has a long way to go to make sure human rights standards are upheld during World Cup preparations and other aspects, from equal treatment of women to procuring supplies from ethical sources.

“[FIFA] must use its influence to address these human rights risks as determinedly as it does to pursue its commercial interests,” Ruggie stated.

The report says FIFA must spell out how it means to commit to human rights standards, apply these measures to its 209 member associations, monitor and enforce standards and become more transparent with NGOs and the public.

“This is an ongoing process and of course challenges remain, but FIFA is committed to playing its part in ensuring respect for human rights and to being a leader among inteational sports organisations in this important area,” new FIFA President Giai Infantino stated in response to the report.

swissinfo.ch