PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Human rights activists are sounding the alarm ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup set to take place across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, because of an absence of adequate safeguards for children during the event.
Minky Worden, the director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said large sporting events like the World Cup and Olympics often come with the risk of increased criminal activity.
“They have not hired child safeguarding officers, they haven’t set up any reporting system to track abuse across events,” she said.
Some major criminal activities that befall big events Worden mentioned are human trafficking, kidnapping, and child and labor abuse.
“These are all predictable things that happen with these major events. And it’s going to be really critical to put protections in place and to make sure that their uniform across host cities,” she said.
Philadelphia is one of the 15 cities across North America that will host World Cup games, and if FIFA doesn’t pay for the protections, Worden said it will likely be the local municipalities that foot the bill for proper protection protocols.
“Cities and municipal areas will have to spend their own money to protect young people,” she said.
In a statement, a FIFA spokesperson told KYW, "Safeguarding (and child safeguarding in particular) is a priority across all of FIFA’s operations, especially at FIFA’s major tournaments. Safeguarding and child protection are one of the key areas identified in the FIFA World Cup Sustainability Strategy. FIFA is finalizing a Safeguarding Guidance document for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Host Cities, which will have specific child safeguarding elements."
In addition to planning for World Cup games, Philadelphia is also piecing together a blueprint for celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday and hosting the MLB All-Star game.