Fifa slammed over treatment of street vendors 29/06/2010 |
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Fifa should be held to account over its treatment of street vendors, many of whom have suffered loss of income during the World Cup, a leading global human rights campaigner has said.
Mary Robinson, a former president of Ireland and ex-United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, believes the move by Fifa to set up exclusion zones near the World Cup stadiums is a human rights issue that needs to be addressed.
Speaking to Business Report, Robinson said it was critical to devise a way to protect the rights of the street vendors and informal traders, particularly in the developing world, so they can continue to make a living, unhindered by the staging of such major events as the World Cup.
"We want this issue addressed for the next World Cup in Brazil and even the Olympic Games in London," she explained. "This is an issue of human rights."
The Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa estimates that street vending and informal trading accounts for 7 per cent of gross domestic product.
In the run-up to the World Cup, there were several protests by street vendors, who accused Fifa of barring them from trading near the World Cup venues through strict marketing rules.
According to StreetNet, an organisation that works with street vendors across South Africa, there could be more than 100,000 street and informal traders who have lost their livelihoods during the World Cup.
"They deserve some form of compensation for their loss of income," StreetNet added in a statement.
"At the very least, 0.7 per cent of the profits from the World Cup should be channelled into development programmes for the street vendors.”
Pat Horn, the StreetNet international co-ordinator, said: "For the next World Cup in 2014 in Brazil, the game plan needs to be different."
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