Child sexual exploitation and mega sport events on the soccer nation. The 2014 World Cup in Brazil and FIFA’s accountability: lessons for the future

Abstract

The FIFA World Cup is seen as a global celebration of soccer, but its impact on host nations can be far more complex and troubling. In 2014, Brazil hosted the World Cup, and with it came widespread human rights violations, especially against vulnerable children. In this research, our focus is Child Sexual Exploitation in Brazil during the World Cup. First, we will delimit the legal framework around child protection. Following, we will contemplate the Brazilian social context, the specialty of children’s reality and the facts we have on the World Cup. Working with the concept of mega sport events, we delve into the intricate relationship between FIFA, the governing body of soccer, and Brazil, the host nation. Using the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights as a framework, together with all the relevant international instruments, this study explores FIFA's responsibility for the human rights violations that occurred in Brazil, what it did wrong, what it should have done, the steps it now must take, and the possibility of holding the body accountable. We finalise briefly observing the current international scenario, what we have accomplished and the much we still need to develop. This research brings a question: are we going to accomplish the prevention of human rights violations in the 2026 World Cup?