Business Ethics: Fifa World Cup ‘hits the poorest hardest’
In this article, major sports event organizers (FIFA and the International Olympic Committee) are called upon by Terre des Hommes (an international charity) to perform financial and social changes to the set up of global sports competitions. This issue arose due to 170,000 people losing their homes because of renovations for the World Cup 2014 in Brazil, human rights concerns and general increase in risk of poverty during the event.
Fifa defends themselves by stating their support for street children and relationship with the UN. I believe that this situation is an example of social responsibility being used as a way to increase profits and improve brand reputation. “General infrastructure improvements” is comparable to a euphemism for the underlying abuse of human rights. I realized that Fifa claimed they knew nothing about “forced evictions”, when there was evidence to prove unethical treatment towards locals; for example, their temporary huts not having any water or electricity. I feel like it should not have been unknown to Fifa that renovations would imply relocation of homes. Also, locals became in higher risk of poverty because profit earning opportunities were taken away from them. This I feel is a violation of human rights. On the other hand, I applaud Fifa for planning in the lines of the Stakeholder theory, in which Fifa plans to “facilitate discussions” with human rights and labor organizations; this will increase their value in the eyes of the workers involved with Fifa and can counteract some of their unethical consequences that occurred due to the World Cup.
Reference: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28881952