On the evening of October 10, two European football giants played a friendly match amid much fanfare in the newly renovated Benghazi International Stadium, to the spectators’ delight. Altético Madrid beat Internazionale Milan 4-3 in a penalty shootout to take home the “Reconstruction Cup.” The teams reportedly received €3 million each.
The catch? The match was hosted by Khalifa Hiftar, commander of the abusive armed group the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), and his family clan, who controls southern and eastern Libya with an iron fist.
Welcome to the world of “sportswashing.”
The concept is simple: host a major sporting event to attract positive media attention while diverting attention away from abuses. Libya joins the likes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in using sportswashing to launder a record of rights violations.
While Hiftar might wish to distract the world from rampant repression and serious violations by forces under his command, hosting European mega clubs in a flashy tournament will not hide the fact that lawmakers and politicians are being disappeared in areas under the LAAF’s control; that enforced disappearance and kidnappings are “pervasive and systematic” according to the United Nations; that abuses against migrants are rampant; and that people who disagree with the Hiftar clan have been unlawfully killed, arbitrarily detained, tortured, ill-treated, and forcibly displaced by the LAAF and affiliated groups since at least 2014.
The Libya Reconstruction and Development Fund, headed by Hiftar’s son Belgasem, was responsible for renovating the 42,000-capacity stadium and underwriting this event’s costs. In June, the Libyan House of Representatives accorded the fund a three-year budget of 69 billion Libyan dinars (around US$12 billion) for reconstruction efforts, despite a financial crisis, serious economic woes, and the lack of a unified national budget for the two rival governments in the country’s east and west. Human Rights Watch wrote to Altético Madrid and Internazionale Milan on October 24 but did not receive a response.
Libyan fans may feel proud welcoming major teams, but sports clubs need to respect human rights. This includes conducting due diligence to identify the risks of contributing to burnishing the image of human rights-abusing states and entities.
While the teams may have seen this match as a “warm-up for the Champions League” and an opportunity to “allow players not selected for their national teams” to play, none of this should come at the expense of laundering the reputation of unaccountable and abusive groups committing serious violations.