Human Rights

Background Information

During the bid process, the Dallas Sports Commission engaged 250 stakeholders across several human rights issues pre-identified by FIFA for exploration. The resulting Human Rights Plan was submitted during the bid process along with other technical aspects.

In July 2024, FIFA World Cup 26™ issued their long-awaited Human Rights Framework (Framework). This Framework differed from the request made during the bid process and asked Host Committees to examine human rights violations in three areas:

  1. Inclusion and Safeguarding – Inclusion and non-discrimination, safeguarding, human trafficking, gender equity, LGBTQIA+, gender-based violence, freedom of assembly, expression and press, accessibility, and security and policing.
  2. Workers’ Rights – Fair wages, child labor, non-discrimination, inclusive hiring protocols, grievances and access to remedy, forced labor and labor trafficking, poor working conditions, occupational, health and safety, freedom of association and collective bargaining, migrant workers’ rights, rest and reasonable limitation of working hours, preventing and addressing harassment and abuse at work, responsible contracting and transparent dealings.
  3. Access to Remedy – ensuring that anyone that may have experienced a human rights violation linked to hosting in North Texas has access to remedy in addition to workers.

Aligning the 2020 Bid Plan Submission to the new FIFA World Cup 26™ Framework

The now North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee (NTFWCOC) crossed the bid plan submission from 2020 with the new Framework to align the input from the bid plan with the new expectations FIFA World Cup 26™ set. The results of the cross are as follows:

  1. There were 89 opportunities to mitigate potential harms for what now falls under Safeguarding and Inclusion.
  2. There were 12 opportunities to mitigate potential harms for what now falls under Workers’ Rights.
  3. There were 0 ideas on Access to Remedy, this was not an area of analysis required during the bid process.
  4. Note – Human Trafficking was flagged as a special area of concern by North Texas area stakeholders.

October 31, 2024, Human Rights Workshop Summary and Next Steps

With the release of the new Framework in July 2024, the NTFWCOC designed and hosted an in person Human Rights workshop on October 31, 2024, with 125 stakeholders. At the workshop, the 125 stakeholders further prioritized 64 of the 102 ideas proposed in the 2020 bid plan. These 64 ideas underwent a legal, feasibility, and budget analysis. The results of this and the finalized list of action steps to prepare our community for the World Cup were shared in a virtual report out call on January 22, 2025, at 10 AM CST.

A final Human Rights Action Plan is currently due to FIFA World Cup 26™ on August 29, 2025. For transparency, we will also publish the Action Plan here unless the publication date is changed.

RECENT: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION PLAN FEEDBACK AND NEXT STEPS

Following the Human Rights Workshop on October 31, 2024, the Draft Action Plan was released for public feedback on March 24, 2025. The feedback period closed on April 30, 2025, during which 63 points of input were submitted by 13 stakeholders. To promote transparency, a report-out session was held on May 15, 2025, to share how public feedback was addressed. More than 80 stakeholders participated, with invitations extended to over 300 individuals and organizations.

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, please email our Chief Human Rights Officer at minal@dallasfwc26.com.

For media inquiries, please contact media@dallasfwc26.com.