SAIL (Simplified Approach to International Law): Culture, Sport & Everyday Life

How International Law protects you (or doesn’t) at the 2026 World Cup

Dr Yusra Suedi (SAIL) — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 18:51:41 GMT

The 2026 Men’s World Cup starts today!

Millions of migrant workers, fans, and journalists from at least 48 countries will be flocking to the US, Canada and Mexico in the coming weeks.

If a migrant worker is exploited, a journalist is detained, or a fan aggressively arrested (likely in the US these days), immigration lawyers are scattered across the US ready to spring into action. But can international law also protect you?

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Your best bet is consular law, not international human rights law

Imagine the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aggressively detains you (as they often do) during a match in Houston because it suspects you’re undocumented.

ICE is a federal agency, so the US should be held responsible for ICE’s actions under international law.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) protects everyone from arbitrary detention, no matter what their immigration status is.

But it won’t help you in the US, which hasn’t accepted the procedure allowing individuals to bring complaints under it. And although it will help you if you get detained by police in Mexico or Canada, and you can file a complaint against either of them to a UN committee, that decision will be a non-binding recommendation.

The Inter-American Human Rights Commission covers human rights violations by countries in the region (including the US, Canada and Mexico) but similarly, its decisions are non-binding recommendations, not enforceable judgments.

But outside human rights, there’s the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR). This gives anyone detained in a foreign country the right to contact their consulate.

It’s a binding treaty, and the US and many other countries (including yours, most likely) are parties to it. It’s your best bet.

You’ll struggle to hold FIFA accountable for anything

FIFA will not have directly done whatever happened to you… but it will have created the environment for those violations to happen in the first place. So you can go after them too, right?

Not quite.

First, there is no binding international law that directly applies to FIFA.

It’s registered as a Swiss association.

International (human rights) law doesn’t create direct binding obligations on associations. It doesn’t hold them responsible. Its focus is on states.

That means any architecture for accountability under international law, like treaty bodies, international courts, or state responsibility, can’t be used directly against FIFA.

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Second, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights do tell businesses like FIFA to stop contributing to human rights harm through their own activities. But they’re guidelines that aren’t binding law.

Third, FIFA has shielded itself from human rights accountability in the Host City Agreements it signed with the 16 individual cities where matches will be held.

Don’t get me wrong… those host agreements do say FIFA and the cities will respect human rights.

They’re also inspired by FIFA’s own Human Rights Framework that it developed following the Qatar 2022 World Cup human rights controversies. Progress!

But… take FIFA’s agreement with LA for example. Now imagine a fan gets detained by the LA police during a match.

The agreement basically says the fan would have to report their complaint through whatever grievance channel FIFA has chosen to create (if it does!), hope that FIFA investigates, and then hope that FIFA decides to act on the findings.

… Mmkay, thanks.

… And FIFA itself? Faces no consequence whatsoever. FIFA is never the subject of the complaint. It has cleverly structured the entire system so that accountability flows downward to host cities… never upward to itself.

On that cheerful note… Enjoy the games, let me know who you’re supporting in the comments! Oh, and check out some resources here:

The information provided in this SAIL post is for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. You should seek the advice of a qualified legal professional regarding your specific situation before taking any action.

Share this with anyone watching the 2026 World Cup!

Does International Law Have a Place at Eurovision? (In 2 minutes)

Dr Yusra Suedi (SAIL) — Mon, 18 May 2026 06:41:29 GMT

A New York Times investigation just revealed that Israel spent at least $1 million on government-funded Eurovision campaigns between 2018-2025, with coordinated voting drives that likely influenced results.

The findings shed new light on this weekend’s Eurovision Song Contest, where Bulgaria won for the first time and Israel finished second.

The contest was overshadowed by controversy over Israel's participation despite the war in Gaza, which led to Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Iceland boycotting.

The revelations raise bigger questions:

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Does international law have a place at Eurovision?

No:

An EBU rep just said, “We’re not the United Nations”.

The contest is run by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), a Swiss-based association of broadcasting organisations.

It is nothing like the UN, the EU or NATO, which are actual international organisations dealing with international law-related issues, created by countries through agreements.

So, they’ll argue, Eurovision simply isn’t a place where questions about who’s breaking which international law really belong.

Yes:

Others will argue that in reality, Eurovision is a cultural stage for countries.

They perform under their flags, national broadcasters select national entries and governments celebrate victories (or fume over losses).

In that sense, Eurovision becomes one of the many informal channels through which countries act, react and relate to each other. It could be seen as a space for soft diplomacy.

Once you see it that way, it makes perfect sense that the contest has become a site where international law debates spill over – even though EBU says it’s apolitical.

History backs this up: The EBU itself banned Russia from participating in Eurovision 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine, to avoid “bringing the competition into disrepute” (though apparently said recently it might lift the ban.)

Do countries have a legal duty to boycott?

Many will say there’s a moral duty to stand up to bad behaviour. But is there a legal duty… and one that other European countries might have to follow in the years to come?

No:

International law has something called the duty of non-recognition – basically, a rule that says countries must not treat certain serious violations of international law as normal or legitimate (here, at Article 41(2)).

In this situation, that would normally translate into things like not giving Israel any weapons or not recognizing the way Israel divides Gazan territory.

It wouldn’t require banning Israel from Eurovision, since the contest isn’t governed by international law and a boycott wouldn’t directly change the situation on the ground.

So there is no legal requirement for any other European country to follow the lead of Ireland and its allies.

Yes:

It doesn’t really matter where or how non-recognition should be expressed.

Countries have applied their duty of non-recognition in cultural arenas before.

For example: In response to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, more than 60 countries (led by the USA) refused to send athletes to the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Another example is the 1986 boycott of the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh by several African, Asian, and Caribbean countries, protesting the UK government’s refusal to sanction apartheid South Africa.

So, applying non-recognition logic to high-profile cultural normalisation is not unthinkable.

Allowing a country to appear, under its flag, on a high-visibility international stage can be seen as a form of recognising its ordinary standing in the world.

As all countries have a duty of non-recognition, European countries would have to uphold that in this context, too (by, for example, boycotting).

Whatever position you take, one thing is clear:

International law seeps into everyday culture and isn’t limited to hallways of the UN in Geneva or New York… It shows up in unexpected places: sequins, ballads, and televotes.

If you found this helpful, share it with someone who needs Eurovision drama explained (and subscribe for more!).