Vilarev, the head of the legal team of the Palestinian Football Federation, which is fighting for Israel’s expulsion from football, told AA correspondent that the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and FairSquare decided against Israel, but FIFA President Gianni Infantino and UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin ignored them.
Emphasizing that the legal obligations and human rights commitments in the FIFA and UEFA statutes are disregarded, Vilarev said, “Given the complicity of all stakeholders of sports in Israel in the Gaza genocide, global sports organizations must implement their own statutes, human rights policies and disciplinary rules and act in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. For example, FIFA, internationally recognized human rights has a legal obligation to respect and protect their rights.” he said.
Underlining that many Israeli athletes voluntarily participate in the violations in Palestine, Vilarev said, “Israeli athletes are soldiers, and while some of them call for the destruction of Gaza, Israeli clubs and associations openly support the Israeli occupation forces. Both football and basketball organizations use the occupied Palestinian territories as their own to organize competitions. This is occupation and illegal.” It means they are directly assisting the settlements.” he said.
“BOTH ORGANIZATIONS VIOLATED THEIR OWN LEGAL RULES”
Kat Vilarev stated that FIFA and UEFA, which expelled Russia and Belarus from the organizations due to the invasion of Ukraine, disregarded their own legal rules to protect Israel from accountability and said:
“FIFA and UEFA have no legal justification. Both organizations have disregarded their own fundamental legal rules to protect Israel from accountability. Since there is no external oversight mechanism for FIFA or UEFA on such matters, they are effectively free to act as they wish. According to their own regulations, political considerations should have no role in the decisions of sports governing bodies. But the issue is highly politicized and the interests of the powerful are at the forefront. This is a reflection of inequality in sports. “When you think about it, this situation is actually quite barbaric and against the law.”
Regarding the place of attacks such as targeting the football infrastructure in Gaza and destroying sports facilities in international sports law, Vilarev stated that political neutrality in sports is a concept on paper.
Stating that sports organizations such as FIFA, UEFA and the International Olympic Committee are politically connected structures, Vilarev said, “Most of the global sports are largely under western domination. Their sponsors are companies with corporate investors that have shares in the arms production industries of Israel and the USA and large technology companies. They are all interconnected.” he said.
Stating that athletes in Gaza do not have the right to apply to international organizations such as the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) or the International Criminal Court (ICC), Vilarev said, “Non-state actors cannot file a lawsuit at the ICC, and private organizations (such as FIFA) cannot be tried there directly. However, people in these organizations, such as Infantino and Ceferin, can be tried if they personally aided the crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC.” he said.
“IT IS A WAR CRIME FOR SETTLERS TO PARTICIPATE IN ISRAELI CLUBS AS ATHLETES”
Stating that some Israeli settlers take part as athletes in Israeli clubs operating in the West Bank, Vilarev said, “It is a war crime for the Israeli settler civilian population to take part as athletes in Israeli clubs operating in these regions. Another war crime is the construction of settlements and football clubs on stolen Palestinian lands from which Palestinians were forcibly exiled. A state that wishes to comply with the principle of ‘individual criminal responsibility’ “may hold the presidents of FIFA and UEFA responsible for facilitating crimes against humanity.” made his assessment.
Emphasizing that it is essential to introduce new regulations or mechanisms in international sports law, Vilarev said, “There is always a need for new regulations. This has become even more evident with the different treatment applied to Russia and Israel. We need clear and well-defined, applicable rules.” he said.