Human and Labor Rights in the 2026 FIFA World Cup

A Roadmap for Civil Society Engagement in Mexico

This report aims to provide civil society organizations (CSOs) with actionable information to support efforts to leverage the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup (2026 FWC) to improve human and labor rights. Specifically, it focuses on the rights of Mexican and migrant workers in key sectors related to this mega-sporting event in both Mexico and the U.S. In conversations with stakeholders, Empower identified two broad advocacy approaches with regards to human rights protections and sustainability: i) addressing human rights and sustainability in sports; and ii) addressing human rights and sustainability through sports.

Despite improvements to FIFA’s human rights and sustainability commitments since 2015, it is clear from the bidding and city selection stages of the 2026 FWC that the international football federation views its human rights responsibilities as limited. In fact, it plans to delegate responsibility for the implementation of its human rights commitment to each host city committee in the three countries. Municipal responsibility means that it will be difficult for CSOs to coordinate advocacy at the national and regional levels, as grievances will be handled for the most part by city governments, which could lead to civil society fragmentation. However, CSOs should ensure that the relatively high standards adopted by U.S. host cities are also adopted in Mexican host cities where the gaps in wages and labor enforcement are notable.

Empower has identified key moments prior to this mega-sporting event that can be used to hold different actors accountable to their human rights commitments and responsibilities. The city selection stage was a particularly important opportunity for civil society to pressure cities and FIFA to implement formal civil society engagement mechanisms, including transparency clauses, human rights protections, and sustainability provisions in city proposals, organizer commitments, and agreements between FIFA and local actors, as well as to make all agreements public. Infrastructure development and the sourcing of goods and services for the event are also key moments when public and private actors can be pressured to include transparency and human rights and sustainability provisions into public procurement processes and contracts.

Pulling Back the Cover: The Roots, Relationships and Rise of Family Watch International

On April 4, 2023, Janet Museveni, the First Lady of Uganda, tweeted to her half-million followers, “I recently had the honor of meeting with Ms. Sharon Slater, President of Family Watch International.” The tweet included a photograph of Museveni standing next to Slater and a small group of people on the steps of the State House in Entebbe. The thread continued, “[W]e discussed the significance of safeguarding African culture & family values against emerging threats, & I expressed my concern about the imposition of harmful practices like homosexuality.”

Less than two months later, Janet Museveni’s husband, President Yoweri Museveni, signed into law one of the world’s most punitive anti-LGBTI bills, which includes punishments that range from life imprisonment to the death penalty. Most Ugandans have likely never heard of Sharon Slater or her organization, Family Watch International (FWI). If they have, they may wonder how a Mormon American who leads a small Arizona-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) comes to sit at the table with the wife of a head of state to discuss African values and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people. This is also a question many in the United States and elsewhere are asking.

Private U.S. citizens are free to travel and engage with political leaders in other countries; when this work is politically driven and contributes to dangerous legislation that harms individuals and violates basic human rights, the public is entitled to learn more about the person and the organization they represent. This report aims to shed light on FWI, a group that peddles disinformation and homophobia that is impacting health, education, and human rights policy from Arizona to East Africa and in multilateral spaces like the United Nations. While FWI has cycled in and out of the public eye since its incorporation in 2000, Slater’s close ties to Museveni, and high-level participation with the first lady in a regional anti-LGBTI inter-parliamentary conference in Entebbe, Uganda, has drawn renewed scrutiny and intense criticism of her organization and its agenda.

The Political Network for Values: Global Far-Right at the United Nations

On November 17, 2023, a gathering was hosted at the United Nation’s New York City headquarters by the Political Network for Values (PNfV), a major organizing nexus for the global far-right. Founded almost a decade ago, the benignly named PNfV has largely flown under the radar. In this time, the group has blossomed into a key networking hub and training ground for far-right activists and political leaders seeking to diminish or extinguish minorities rights and depreciate multilateral human rights systems—including the United Nations itself.

To advance their goals, PNfV brings together an impressive roster of senior government officials, legislators, and well-connected civil society leaders to organize against the human rights they contend are incompatible with their values. In addition to developing and promoting regressive policies in state and national legislatures around the world, and undermining human rights standards at the UN, the PNfV network is also securing the longevity of this movement by training the next generation of youth leaders.

This meeting comes at a time of global anxiety, particularly over efforts to weaken multilateral spaces like the UN, the European Union, and the Organization of American States. Because it is easy to overlook such an under-advertised meeting, this report will illuminate PNfV’s far-right ambitions, its finances, its growing global reach, and its ability to adopt a mainstream appearance—a goal advanced by holding a meeting seemingly under the United Nation’s auspices.

The global human rights community must critically examine PNfV’s role as a far-right organizer and pay serious attention to the ideologies and actions of its members, sponsors, and strategic partners. This includes interrogating their extremist ties and holding them to the light. This report spotlights the genesis of PNfV, its leadership, funding, and what happens after their summits conclude. PNfV’s tagline—“How far can we get?”—telegraphs the group’s ambition. Given their ability to breach the halls of the UN, despite how their work violates the mandate and spirit of this ostensibly august body, now is the time to understand what drives this shadowy group.