US senators push FIFA to probe Russia’s alleged exploitation of North Koreans

A group of eight US Senators wrote a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino urging that the world’s football governing body open an investigation into Russia’s alleged exploitation of North Korean workforce at a construction site of a stadium for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, TASS reports.

The Guardian reported in May that numerous alleged violations took place in regards to workers during the construction of the football stadium in Russia’s second largest city of Saint Petersburg. According to the daily, heads of the football federations of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland expressed their concern with labor conditions of North Korean workers at the construction site.

In its letter to the FIFA chief a group of eight senators, led by Senator Bob Menendez, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stated in particular: "As an organization with the capacity to affect the lives of billions of fans, athletes, and workers around the world, FIFA must live up to its commitments on human rights."

"Protecting workers and athletes from forced labor must be a key element of those commitments. If FIFA fails to take action against Russia and North Korea, it will be perceived as tolerating these countries’ heinous practices," according to the letter.

"The world’s premier sporting event must not be built on the backs of the world’s most vulnerable people," the group of US senators stated.