View previous stories
	FIFA Scandal: Allegations of rampant corruption in world football by Reuters, BBC, Avaaz, agencies   July 2015   In the wake of growing corruption scandals and Sepp Blatter’s resignation, FIFA’s executive committee is set to discuss fresh elections for FIFA’s president. Transparency International, Avaaz, the International Trade Union Confederation and #NewFifaNow have joined forces to call for independent reform of FIFA.   It is time FIFA listens to the millions who play the game and the billions of supporters. FIFA is a flawed democracy that needs to be fixed urgently.   With revenues in excess of US$5 billion, FIFA has unprecedented reach, political clout and enormous worldwide social influence.   Its power is such that it can demand that World Cup host countries change their laws. Countries spend billions on hosting the World Cup.   But FIFA and its executive committee have no accountability to anyone except themselves. It is exempt from the kind of legal oversight, disclosure and compliance rules that would be standard for businesses of this magnitude. FIFA has forgotten that it is the custodian of the sport, not the owner.   "There has to be an independent reform commission and FIFA has to change. No more false dawns, no more scandals, no more dawn raids. FIFA has a debt to the fans and players to change now”, said Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director, of Transparency International.   Transparency International’s Give Back the Game – How to Fix FIFA maps out priority reforms that should be top of FIFA’s agenda. From an independent reform commission to the role of national football associations and the presidential elections, the recommendations have one goal: making sure the reform process is rooted in transparency and accountability.   It’s time for FIFA’s executive committee to embrace real reform and show it is serious about fighting corruption. The delegates must demonstrate their commitment to fight corruption by backing these changes.   * See link below to access the report.   2 June, 2015   Sepp Blatter resigns as FIFA president amid corruption scandal.   Sepp Blatter has resigned as president of FIFA as a mounting corruption scandal has engulfed world football''s governing body. The 79-year-old Swiss official, FIFA president for 17 years and only re-elected on Friday, said he would remain in charge until a special congress can choose a new leader.   "FIFA needs a profound overhaul," Blatter said. "While I have a mandate from the membership of FIFA, I do not feel that I have a mandate from the entire world of football — the fans, the players, the clubs, the people who live, breathe and love football as much as we all do at FIFA. This is why I will call an extraordinary congress to be held as soon as possible, for a new president to be elected to follow me."   27 May, 2015   Swiss police arrested some of the most powerful figures in global football during a raid on a Zurich hotel on Wednesday, announcing a criminal investigation into the awarding of the next two World Cups and plunging the world"s most popular sport into turmoil.   US authorities have indicted nine football officials and five sports media and promotions executives for corruption charges involving more than $US150 million.   FIFA has been subject to 20 years of ongoing bribery and corruption allegations, appears finally to be forced to confront its systemic governance and corruption failures.   U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch:   “The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted. It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks. And it has profoundly harmed a multitude of victims, from the youth leagues and developing countries that should benefit from the revenue generated by the commercial rights these organizations hold, to the fans throughout the world whose support for the game makes those rights valuable. The action of the Department of Justice intends to end such corrupt practices, to root out misconduct, and to bring wrongdoers to justice – and we look forward to continuing to work with other countries in this effort.”   “Today’s announcement should send a message that enough is enough,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Currie. “After decades of what the indictment alleges to be brazen corruption, organized international soccer needs a new start – a new chance for its governing institutions to provide honest oversight and support of a sport that is beloved across the world. This indictment is not the final chapter in our investigation.”   Director James B. Comey of the FBI said:   “The defendants fostered a culture of corruption and greed that created an uneven playing field for the biggest sport in the world”. “Undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks, and bribes became a way of doing business at FIFA".   “Corruption, tax evasion and money laundering are certainly not the cornerstones of any successful business. Whether you call it soccer or football, the fans, players and sponsors around the world who love this game should not have to worry about officials corrupting their sport.”   4 in 5 football fans say Blatter should not stand for FIFA President: poll of 35,000 in 30 countries - Transparency International Secretariat   A poll of more than 35,000 football fans in 30 countries released before the election to pick the next president of FIFA, world football’s governing body, showed that four out of five fans do not think Sepp Blatter should stand for the post and 69.2 per cent said they had no confidence in FIFA.   The poll was to assess how the effects of corruption and poor governance at FIFA is perceived by fans who will have no say in the vote. Only the representatives of the 209 football federations that make up FIFA are eligible to vote on 29 May in Zurich.   Deborah Unger, of Transparency International said: “The corruption and scandals associated with FIFA have so damaged its reputation that fans have no confidence in the organisation. That is sending a strong message to the small elite controlling FIFA that it must clean up its act. It is the fans who pay for and support football and make FIFA one of the most powerful organisations on the planet. They deserve better.”   FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who stands accused of presiding over "rampant, systemic and deep-rooted corruption" during his long tenure has been re-elected despite widespread calls from the head of European football and many others to step aside, following the latest corruption scandal engulfing the sport"s governing body.   UEFA chief Michel Platini said he told Blatter to step down. "I asked him to resign: enough is enough. There have been too many scandals. FIFA doesn''''t deserve to be treated this way."   However, Africa, South America, Asian and the Caribbean federations supported the much maligned and corruption tainted Blatter, as many have benefited from the growth of the game during his long tenure through FIFA support for their federations and through personal career advancement opportunities. Vested interests are reported to have triumphed yet again at FIFA.   One offical noted: "There seems to be a huge disconnect between the sense of fair play that guides those playing and supporting the game, and the allegations of corruption that have long lingered around the management of the sport internationally."   http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jul/16/fifa-overhauled-independent-commission-transparency-international http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32895048 http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/27/football/fifa-corruption-charges-justice-department/ http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/28/sepp-blatter-refuses-to-resign-fifa-corruption-scandal http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/05/28/new-fifa-president-should-end-abuses http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/may/20/slave-deaths-qatar-world-cup-2022-fifa http://www.newfifanow.org/may-18-2015.html http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/30522170 Visit the related web page
	Launch of eyeWitness to Atrocities by Mark Ellis Executive director, International Bar Association (IBA)   As Director of the International Bar Association (IBA), I welcome the opportunity to announce the launch of the eyeWitness to Atrocities mobile app, a new tool to document and report international atrocity crimes in a secure and verifiable way so that the information can be used as evidence in a court of law.   Every day around the world, human rights defenders, investigators, journalists, and ordinary citizens capture photos and video of atrocities committed by violent and oppressive states and groups. The eyeWitness app will increase the impact of the footage collected by these courageous individuals by ensuring the images can be authenticated and, therefore, used in investigations or trials.   It will also provide assurance of authenticity to media who wish to report the photo or video. IBA created the idea for this app and worked with software professionals, prosecutors, defence lawyers and other experts in developing it.   Because of its importance in fulfilling the IBA’s mission to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law, the IBA is devoting $1 million to this groundbreaking project.   With social media increasingly the forum for communicating human rights violations, many online images have raised awareness of atrocities around the world but typically lack the attribution or information necessary to be used as evidence in a court of law.   Now anyone with an Android-enabled smart phone can download the eyeWitness to Atrocities app and help hold accountable perpetrators of atrocity crimes, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and war crimes.   The design of the app is based on extensive research on the rules of evidence in international, regional and national courts and tribunals. It includes several features to guarantee authenticity, facilitate verification and protect confidentiality by allowing the user to decide whether or not to be anonymous.   The eyeWitness app records and embeds the metadata necessary to facilitate verification of the video and photos collected. This footage will be stored in a secure repository, maintained by eyeWitness.   The eyeWitness expert legal team will analyse the received images and identify the appropriate authorities, including international, regional, or national courts, to investigate further. eyeWitness will be an ongoing advocate for the relevant footage it receives, ensuring that it is used to promote accountability for the atrocities filmed.   The IBA has worked with various human rights organisations in field testing the app in Syria, Kenya and elsewhere, and the results have been excellent. We are now partnering with these and other human rights organisations to put the app in the hands of those working in some of the world’s most severe conflict zones.   The app is now available and can be downloaded at Google Play. More information about eyeWitness can be found on its website, http://www.eyewitnessproject.org or its youtubechannel: tinyurl.com/ppc7yvp.   eyeWitness offers a revolutionary solution to the evidentiary challenges of mobile phone footage and puts the technology in the hands of citizens to bring to justice those who have committed the most serious international atrocity crimes. The IBA is proud to spearhead this important project.   http://www.eyewitnessproject.org http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/MoresatelliteimagestoassistHRwork.aspx http://witness.org/   June 2015   The United Nations Special Rapporteur on summary executions, Christof Heyns, has called on the UN system and other international human rights bodies to “catch up” with rapidly developing innovations in human rights fact-finding and investigations. “The digital age presents challenges that can only be met through the smart use of digital tools,” he said.   In his latest report to the Human Rights Council, Mr. Heyns highlighted that information and communication technologies (ICTs) —the hardware and software that produce and transmit information in the digital space— can play an increasing role in the protection of all human rights, including the right to life, by reinforcing the role of ‘civilian witnesses’ in documenting rights violations.   “We have all seen how the actions of police officers and other who use excessive force are captured on cell phones and lead to action against the perpetrators. Billions of people around the world carry a powerful weapon to capture such events in their pockets,” the expert said. “The fact that this is well-known can be a significant deterrent to abuses.”   The expert described in his report how various organizations are developing alert applications that journalists, human rights defenders and others can use to send an emergency message (along with GPS co-ordinates) to their friends and colleagues if they feel in immediate danger.   “New information tools can also empower human rights investigations and help to foster accountability where people have lost their lives or were seriously injured,” the Special Rapporteur noted.   The use of other video technologies, ranging from CCTV cameras to body-worn “cop cams” can further contribute to filling information gaps. The use of resources such as satellite imagery to verify such videos, or sometime to show evidence of violations themselves, is also an important dimension.   However, despite the many advantages offered by ICTS for the protection of human rights, Mr. Heyns also warned that it will be short-sighted not to see the risks. “Those with the power to violate human rights can easily use peoples’ emails and other communications to target them and also to violate their privacy,” he said.   The human rights expert also noted that the fact that people can use social media to organise spontaneous protests can lead authorities to perceive a threat – and to over-react.   Moreover, there is a danger that what is not captured on video is not taken seriously. “We must guard against a mind-set that ‘if it is not digital it did not happen,’” he stressed.   In his report, Mr. Heyns also cautioned that not all communities, and not all parts of the world, are equally connected, and draws special attention to the fact that “the ones that not connected are often in special need of protection.”   “There is still a long way to go for all of us to understand fully how we can use these evolving and exciting but in some ways also scary new tools to their best effect,” the expert stated, noting that not all parts of the international human rights community are fully aware of the power and pitfalls of digital fact-finding.   The Special Rapporteur made several recommendations in his report, including that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights appoints as soon as possible a specialist in digital evidence to assist it in making the best use of ICTs.   * Access the report: http://bit.ly/29SkGoD   The IBA Human Rights Law Working Group has conducted a series of video interviews with prominent human rights lawyers and advocates, to highlight the challenges of protecting human rights in the 21st century: http://bit.ly/1NflW0P Visit the related web page
	View more stories