Ahead of this year’s World Cup, Amnesty International warned that millions of fans attending the tournament are at risk of attacks on their human rights, especially in the United States. The organization added that the tournament, which will also be held in Mexico and Canada, could take place amid severe restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
In a report titled “Humanity Must Win: Defending Rights, Tackling Repression at the 2026 FIFA World Cup,” Amnesty outlines a range of risks faced by fans, players, locals, and media attending the tournament in its three host countries.
In the US, where three-quarters of the World Cup matches will be played, the report finds there is a “human rights emergency” characterized by racial profiling and mass detentions by agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
“This World Cup is far from the ‘medium risk’ tournament that FIFA once judged it to be,” the organization wrote. “The joy that fans hope to experience over a six-week celebration of football is overshadowed by the reality of violent arrests, mass detention,” and other abuses.
Earlier this year, then-acting ICE director Todd Lyons said ICE would be a “key part” of security during the World Cup. Since then, the extent of ICE’s role has not been fully clarified. But in May, Department of Homeland Security officials told NBC News that ICE is offering its personnel to local police departments to help with security during World Cup matches.
Amnesty International’s report indicates that in Mexico federal authorities have announced the deployment of around 100,000 security agents, including members of the army, in response to high levels of violence. According to Amnesty, this decision increases the risk for those demonstrating, including a movement of searching mothers who have planned peaceful protests in the vicinity of the Banorte Stadium (formerly Azteca Stadium) in Mexico City to demand transparency, justice, and reparations for the 133,500 disappearances registered in the country. This initiative is expected to be joined by other mobilizations during the tournament, linked to access to land, water, housing, and criticism of gentrification.
In Canada, the report notes, there are fears that the country’s housing woes will lead to unhoused populations in host cities like Toronto being displaced by World Cup activities.
When Amnesty released its report in March, the organization claimed only four of the 16 host cities had published plans for the protection of human rights during the tournament. It recommended that host cities avoid the use of military forces in civilian security tasks and stressed that local authorities should ensure that World Cup events and venues were not subject to immigration raids.
This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.
