Aussies battle it out for justice off the pitch

Favela houses in Sao Paolo. Photo: Caritas Australia

Australia may have gone down to the Netherlands in today's football match, but the Aussies have come up with a winner in Caritas Australia's Sports for Justice report which outlines why and how major sporting events must do more to help vulnerable and marginalised communities in host countries.

I mentioned this in my first 'blog' on Facebook, but here are some highlights from the report:

the Brazilian people, particularly the humblest among you, can offer the world a valuable lesson in solidarity, a word that is too often forgotten or silenced because it is uncomfortable … I would like to make an appeal to those in possession of greater resources, to public authorities and to all people of good will who are working for social justice: never tire of working for a more just world, marked by greater solidarity.

–Pope Francis to Rio de Janeiro favela dwellers, July 2013 

Caritas Australia recommends that world sporting bodies, including FIFA and the IOC, to immediately put in place any measures deemed necessary to:

- protect human rights;

- ensure that sustainable development principles are integrated into all phases of the events;

- ensure that all people in host cities and countries, especially the most marginalised, can participate in decision making; and

- broaden current reporting to include contractually binding “minimum standards” which mitigate impacts on local communities.

… 

As part of a new FIFA initiative, host nations are required to develop a Sustainability Strategy Concept to “reduce the negative and increase the positive impact [of the games] on society and the environment”. Though the strategy includes a “comprehensive stakeholder analysis” it is important to note that NGOs and local communities are classed as “other stakeholders” rather than as “key stakeholders”.

... FIFA needs to ensure that local communities, especially the most marginalised, can participate in genuine consultation from the outset of the project, so that their voice is heard and their rights protected.

...

At the completion of the games, FIFA and the Brazil Local Organising Committee will publish a sustainability report. South Africa produced such a sustainability report after it hosted the last World Cup in 2010; however that report focused almost exclusively on environmental sustainability. Brazil will be the first World Cup to produce a comprehensive sustainability report that covers both social and environmental aspects of the event footprint. Brazil’s report will therefore be pivotal, and will set the benchmark for reporting by future hosts.

Case Study: Movement for the Defence of Favela Residents (MDF) and the World Cup

Caritas Australia has been partnering with the Movemento de Defensa do Los Favelados de São Paulo (Movement for the Defence of Favela Residents or MDF) in Brazil for 29 years to help communities in favelas – many of whom do not hold deeds for their homes or do not have any property rights – understand their rights and seek legal protection. In the lead up to the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics, Brazilian authorities have deemed many favelas as “irregular communities” and have evicted hundreds of thousands of residents so that planned projects can go ahead.

MDF’s mission is to defend and promote the citizenship of the inhabitants of the favelas in the area of politics, pedagogy, art and religious freedom. MDF operates across 40 favelas in São Paulo, a city that has experienced evictions due to preparations for the World Cup.

MDF, with support from Caritas Australia, has provided activities such as leadership formation for children and adolescents through a cultural centre in the favela of Vila Prudente.

However, the Vila Prudente favela is located in a corridor between the city centre, the airport and the stadium where the opening of the World Cup will be held. With the recent arrival of the subway connecting this area to the city there has been a dramatic increase in real estate speculation. MDF has been working for many years with the community to secure a guarantee of tenure, but with pressure on prices in the housing market deeds of ownership are now even more important to the residents. The city council planned to remove the favela and all of its residents, however MDF worked hard to advocate alongside the residents committee to retain it.

Read full report here.

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