In recent years, Saudi Arabia has gone to great lengths to improve its global standing through strategic international campaigns. One outstanding example is its organization of the International Year of Camelids, initiated in partnership with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Though it has been offered as part of an attempt to encourage world food security, cultural heritage, and environmental sustainability, the project also reveals a larger and more sinister agenda: Saudi Arabia’s attempt to rethink itself as a responsible and forward-thinking global leader. This recasting should not blind us, however, to the Kingdom’s ongoing human rights abuses, repression of dissent, and sportswashing initiatives—previous among them, its use to host the FIFA World Cup in 2034.
Saudi Arabia’s Camelids Campaign: More Than Meets the Eye
At face value, Saudi Arabia’s domination of the International Year of Camelids is commendable. The campaign sought to raise awareness of the cultural, social, and economic importance of camelids, including camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos. The Kingdom organized over 50 events, provided 15 research grants, and showcased 20 international exhibitions. It invested more than SR1 billion ($267 million) in camelid-related research, development, and extension.
While such gestures can be seen as an indicator of Saudi Arabia’s genuine interest in sustainable agriculture and rural development, they do have another purpose: image-making. All these are part of a grand plan of using foreign stages and events as platforms to groom its image, an action that has been called sportswashing and increasingly described as culture-washing.
Saudi officials such as Prince Fahd bin Jalawi and Fahd bin Falah bin Hathleen used camels as a symbol of rural resilience and cultural heritage. But the question is: how could a government that could not even ensure the dignity and rights of its own citizens be trusted to defend the sporting values and cultural platforms of the world?
Sportswashing and the FIFA World Cup Bid
Saudi Arabia’s hosting bid for the FIFA World Cup in 2034 is an act of sportswashing—a tactic by which dictatorial regimes use global sporting events to deflect criticism from their human rights abuses and project a sanitized international image.
Similarly, the International Year of Camelids was marketed as an opportunity to celebrate achievements, tolerance, and global outreach, whereas the World Cup bid is marketed as an opportunity to celebrate such vices.
Cultural Campaigns Cannot Mask Repression
Saudi Arabia’s participation in the International Year of Camelids is just one of several cultural programs intended to rebrand itself. The government has spent lavishly on festivals like the Riyadh Season, art shows, and music festivals—all intended to present an image of a tolerant, open society. But the veneer cracks upon closer inspection.
For example, while the Kingdom celebrates the heritage of camels, it continues to suppress the cultural and religious identities of its Shi’a minority, demolishing historical sites and arresting community leaders. While it funds agricultural research, it imprisons environmental activists who raise concerns about land degradation, water mismanagement, or overdevelopment.
The selective promotion of culture, therefore, is a distortion, and not an accurate reflection, of national values. Utilized to charm world opinion to events like the World Cup, this kind of campaign is therefore immoral.
The World Cup Should Celebrate Freedom, Not Repression
FIFA claims football is not only a sport but a force for unity, equality, and hope. Those principles are at odds with Saudi Arabia’s history. The World Cup is more than a sporting competition; it is a world stage where shared human values are respected. To give that stage to a government that represses opposition, suppresses freedoms, and denies basic human rights is to be untrue to everything the sport stands for.
FIFA has an ethical responsibility to ensure that the nations hosting its most symbolic tournament are committed to preserving human dignity. Turning a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses for profit and fanfare is an affront to the sport’s integrity and insults supporters, players, and citizens everywhere.
Time to Say No: A Ban Is Justified and Necessary
The Saudi Arabian hosting of the International Year of Camelids is no sign of reform or goodwill. It is merely one of several plans to deflect attention from repression within. Let us be honest: a country that imprisons peaceful activists, executes children, and silences journalists is not fit to host the world’s most celebrated sporting event.
We must not accept the idea that cultural or sporting investments justify a government from its moral deficits. The FIFA World Cup 2034 must not become a reward for cosmetic changes or PR efforts alone. It must be given to a nation that respects human rights, promotes freedom of speech, and believes in the dignity of all people.
A Global Game Deserves Better: Say No to FIFA 2034 in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s twelve-month camelid publicity campaign is a sober reminder of the ways regimes use culture and tradition as tools of international marketing. It was not the camels; it was about whitening the Kingdom’s image before bigger pursuits like hosting the FIFA World Cup. As champions of justice, equality, and openness, we cannot allow the international football world to be complicit in this charade.
It is not enough to marvel at Saudi Arabia’s world showcases or research expenditure and ignore wailing political prisoners or gagging media. The international community must send a clear message: until Saudi Arabia demonstrates real, measurable human rights gains, it should not have the right to host the FIFA World Cup 2034.
Let football remain a sanctuary for the values of human society, rather than a stage for the spectacle of authoritarian rule. Let us come together in making a demand for a ban.