Amnesty’s Take on the World Cup

Last week we did a poll asking whether Ahmadinejad should be allowed to attend the World Cup. The poll seemed to express a strong preference to keep politics out of the World Cup, with 55% voting that Ahmadinejad should be allowed to attend Iranian matches in Germany. Now that Iran is out of the picture, the question of whether Ahmadinejad will visit Germany is moot. But others are still finding ways to introduce law and politics into the World Cup. One of the flashier versions of this is Amnesty International’s World Cup site that highlights World Cup countries and their record on women’s rights.

Amnesty writes, “Durings this month, men and women worldwide will be focusing intently on the latest statistics: shots on goal, penalty kicks, ball possession, fouls committed, yellow and red cards. Meanwhile a different kind of statistics will continue to grow unnoticed. This month, like every other month of the year, … more women and girls will be stalked, raped, sexually abused and harassed, trafficked for sexual exploitation, beaten or killed across the world. And there will be no red cards handed out. Violence against women is played out in battlefields, bedrooms, and backstreets. But the referee is not watching.”

Go to “Match of the Day” and you can find absolutely no details about the actual game, but you can find statistics about how poorly the competing countries treat women. Scroll across each flag and you can get a glimpse of what every World Cup country is doing wrong with respect to their treatment of women. From progressive countries like Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, to repressive countries like Iran and Saudia Arabia, Amnesty highlights the problems in each World Cup country. At a minimum the site is useful as a thumbnail sketch of the continuum of women’s rights across the world. (The United States is criticized for inadequate police response to hate crimes and the “extreme isolation” that LGBT survivors of domestic violence feel.)

If you prefer your World Cup without the infusion of politics and law, this site may be an unwelcome intrusion. But for the rest of you, it is worth a look. (HT Iranian Truth).