The Sport Intergroup of the European Parliament and the Erasmus+ project Queering Football will launch tomorrow 12 July a new report titled "Human Rights and Mega Sport Events ahead of FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia" in Brussels.

The report comes days after the end of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia, a test tournament to the 2018 World Cup which will also be hosted by Russia, and aims to set out Human Rights and anti-discrimination measures as a standard of mega-sport events.

Over the recent years, sport authorities have been criticised for overlooking human rights in countries staging their sporting events, including the world football governing body FIFA.

South Africa and Brazil, which hosted the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, were criticised over alleged human rights violations while there are also concerns about Russia and Qatar which are staging the next two global showpiece tournaments.

The Sport Intergroup event will discuss Human Rights issues in the context of the upcoming tournament in Russia (14 June – 15 July 2018) as well as homophobia, the question of the rights of LGBTIQ people and possible steps on a European Parliament level.

Speakers will include Ulrik Lunacek, Vice-president of the European Parliament, Marc Tarabella and Santiago Fisas, Co-Chairs of Sport Intergroup, Bogdan Wenta, Vice-Chair Sport Intergroup, FIFA Head of Public Affairs Fani Misailidi and Elvina Yuvakaeva of the Russian LGBT Sports Federation.

This event is being organised as part of the Erasmus+ sport project “Queering Football – Tackling Homophobia and Promoting Anti-Discrimination around Major Sport Events”, co-funded by the European Union, and “Our Game for Human Rights”, co-funded by the Austrian Development Agency.