Three Questions on Saudi Sportswashing, Daily Brief, 2 November, 2023.

First things first: what is “sportswashing”?

Two very unscientific social media polls I ran this week (here and here) both suggest a fair number of people are unfamiliar with the term, so let me explain.

“Sportswashing” is when a government tries to use a major international sporting event to burnish its global image, in particular trying to downplay, cover-up, or whitewash – hence, “sportswash” – its human rights abuses.

They’re saying in effect: What atrocities? Look, sportsball!

Can you give an example?

Loads, but this week, the buzz is about the hosting of the 2034 World Cup in men’s football.

With Australia pulling out of the running, it looks certain now world football federation FIFA will award Saudi Arabia with the hosting honor.

You might think, given Saudi Arabia’s appalling human rights record, FIFA wouldn’t be overly keen. On paper, FIFA has a Human Rights Policy, after all. But FIFA has shredded its own rules on this time and time again.

For his part, Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman openly confesses to sportswashing, even using the very term itself.

But does sportswashing work?

I’m not sure it does, in fact. Governments spend millions to try to distract people from their human rights abuses, but sometimes, all a major event seems to do is draw more global attention to those abuses. As I think Qatar found out with its recent World-Cup-related reputation hit: Money can’t buy you love.

FIFA may cynically ignore its own rules (and basic human dignity) in awarding the hosting of the World Cup to Saudi Arabia, but most of the world will only be reminded of Saudi Arabia’s appalling human rights record every time they hear of it.

Bonus Question: How bad is Saudi Arabia’s human rights record?

Awful. And things have deteriorated under Mohammed Bin Salman’s rule.

Here are a few links for you to explore on Saudi Arabia’s systematic repression of women, torture and imprisonment of peaceful critics, mass executions, and mass murder at the border. Sex outside marriage, including same-sex relations, is a crime, with punishments including death. 

Recall, too, the slaughter and dismemberment of critical journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate.

Saudi Arabia’s human rights record is so egregious, I really don’t think a sports tournament is going to make the world forget about it. You’re reading this, after all.