Report by Egreenews Staff
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will bring an estimated five million visitors to sixteen host cities across Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The tournament requires a large, temporary workforce to fill roles in food service, custodial work, outdoor vending, security support, and hospitality. Many of these positions draw from populations that already experience economic precarity — immigrant women, female teenagers entering the labor market for the first time, pregnant workers, homeless women, and undocumented laborers.
This report examines what host-city governments, employers, and nonprofit partners are doing — and what they are not doing — to educate and protect these groups. It covers four categories of intervention: health and safety education, workplace protections, anti-exploitation measures, and cross-sector partnerships. The analysis draws on peer-reviewed scholarship, government data, and official city human rights action plans published between 2016 and 2026.
The sixteen host cities offer a comparative lens that cuts across three national regulatory regimes. The United States, with its patchwork of state-level labor laws and ongoing federal heat-standard rulemaking, contrasts with Canada’s provincial frameworks and Mexico’s federal labor reforms. Within each country, cities differ widely in fiscal capacity, union density, pre-existing social services, and political willingness to attach conditions to tournament-related contracts.
One finding emerges early: nearly every host city has produced a human rights action plan, as required by FIFA’s 2024 Human Rights Framework. The content, enforcement mechanisms, and funding behind those plans vary considerably.
Heat, Health, and the Physical Work Environment
The most immediate risk to outdoor workers — food vendors, custodial staff, ticket takers, and logistics personnel — is extreme heat. A 2026 study in Science of the Total Environment modeled wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) across all host cities during the June–July tournament window. Hot, humid locations such as Houston, Miami, and Monterrey often reach maximum WBGTs near 31°C, frequently exceeding safety thresholds for moderate-to-heavy workloads. [University of Waterloo/PubMed, Canada, 2026]
Pregnant workers face elevated risk. OSHA notes that pregnancy makes it harder for the body to regulate core temperature, increasing susceptibility to heat exhaustion and heat stroke. [OSHA, United States, 2024] The agency has proposed a federal heat standard that would require employers to provide water, rest breaks, shade, and acclimatization protocols — but as of mid-2026, the rule has not been finalized. Only a handful of states — California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and Minnesota — have adopted their own heat illness prevention standards for outdoor workers.
California’s regulation, codified at Title 8 CCR Section 3395, requires shade when temperatures exceed 85°F and additional precautions above 95°F. [California Department of Industrial Relations, United States, 2016] The law applies to all outdoor places of employment and covers workers at venues such as SoFi Stadium and Levi’s Stadium.
Washington State imposes a similar standard, administered through the Department of Labor & Industries. In February 2026, Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards launched a “Protecting Worker Rights is the Goal” strategic compliance campaign, targeting industries expected to expand rapidly during the tournament — hospitality, food service, and event staffing. [Seattle Office of Labor Standards, United States, 2026]
Texas, by contrast, has no state-level heat standard. A 2023 state law (HB 2127) stripped municipalities of the authority to enact local labor protections more stringent than state law, limiting what cities like Houston and Dallas could mandate for World Cup workers. The data on this point are incomplete — Houston’s host committee has stated that its Human Rights Action Plan addresses workers’ rights for food, beverage, and custodial employees at the FIFA Fan Festival, but the plan had not been publicly released as of May 2026. [KHOU/Houston Host Committee, United States, 2026]
The occupational heat study noted above recommends that FIFA and host cities adopt “flexible scheduling, hydration and cooling access, and acclimatization protocols, along with contingency plans for rare extreme heat waves.” No host city plan reviewed for this report included a detailed, publicly available heat protocol specific to outdoor workers at tournament venues.
Anti-Trafficking Efforts — Plans, Gaps, and Misplaced Focus
Human trafficking has been the dominant concern in public discourse around mega-events and vulnerable women. The evidence, however, does not support the claim that sex trafficking surges during World Cups. A 2022 book-length study by Gregory Mitchell, published by University of California Press, documents that “despite baseless statistical claims to the contrary, sex trafficking never increases as a result of these global mega-events — but police violence against sex workers always does.” [University of California Press, United States, 2022]
An article in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living (2023) traces how “fantasies” of mass trafficking at sporting events have been used to mobilize law enforcement resources and NGO funding while leaving actual labor exploitation in stadium construction and event supply chains unaddressed. [York University, Canada, 2023]
“Los Angeles, FIFA and LA28 has a human rights mandate to prevent trafficking ahead of and during these major sporting events—and can lead globally,” said Stephanie Richard, Director of the Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative at Loyola Law School. [Loyola Law School, United States, 2025]
Despite that research, most host-city action plans emphasize sex trafficking awareness campaigns. The Sunita Jain Initiative and Arnold & Porter issued a joint report in December 2025 urging Los Angeles, FIFA, and LA28 to invest $2.75–$3.1 million per organizing body in anti-trafficking measures, covering labor trafficking prevention, survivor services, and independent evaluations. The report observed that several cities — including Boston, Dallas, and Houston — had not completed their plans as of the end of 2025. [Loyola Law School, United States, 2025]
Legislative activity is underway in New Jersey. Assembly Bill A4432, introduced in May 2024, would establish a Governor’s Survivor Leader Advisory Council within the Department of Health, tasked with evaluating trafficking risks, reviewing existing programs, and developing a public awareness campaign ahead of the tournament. The bill appropriates $1 million. A companion Senate bill (S3327) cleared the Budget and Appropriations Committee in December 2025. [New Jersey Legislature, United States, 2024]
The New York/New Jersey host committee has also indicated that anti-trafficking measures will be integrated into security planning. New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin stated in 2025 that his office considers itself the “resident experts” on human trafficking enforcement. The data on whether these plans include labor trafficking — as distinct from sex trafficking — remain limited.
The Mexican Host Cities — Capacity and Cross-Border Dynamics
Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Monterrey present a distinct set of conditions. Mexico’s 2019 federal labor reform (implemented under the USMCA) strengthened union democracy and raised enforcement capacity, but informal employment remains high. Data from INEGI show that women in Mexico devote nearly 70% of their time to unpaid work, primarily caregiving, restricting labor market participation and pushing many into informal, unprotected roles. [INEGI, Mexico, 2026]
In Monterrey, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), in partnership with the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, conducted a seminar on combating human trafficking in September 2025. More than sixty public security personnel, investigators, and first responders received specialized training in detection, investigation, and victim assistance. The seminar included representatives from FIFA, FEMSA (the stadium operator for Estadio BBVA), and Mexico’s Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection. [U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Mexico, 2025]
Nuevo León, where Monterrey is located, has developed a state-level anti-trafficking program. The program was designed with input from public officials, universities, and civil society organizations. [Milenio, Mexico, 2025] The data on whether this program includes specific protections for women working in food service, janitorial, or outdoor vending roles around the stadium are not publicly available.
No verifiable academic source was found for Guadalajara’s World Cup-specific worker protection measures within the date range. Available information indicates that Rotary International, in coordination with UNICEF and government agencies, plans to install anti-trafficking modules at World Cup venues in Mexico. [Diario de Morelos, Mexico, 2026] The nearest available peer-reviewed substitute is the broader 2023 Frontiers article addressing trafficking discourse across all FIFA host contexts. [York University, Canada, 2023]
For Mexico City, the evidence base is similarly thin. The city’s host committee has acknowledged risks related to informal labor and trafficking in its public statements, but a detailed, publicly accessible human rights action plan was not located during this review.
Institutional Capacity vs. On-the-Ground Reality
The gap between formal policy commitments and verifiable implementation is the central tension in the data.
FIFA required all sixteen host cities to develop human rights action plans under its July 2024 Human Rights Framework. [FIFA, 2024] By May 2026, many cities had published plans. Atlanta adopted its ATL26 Human Rights Action Plan via City Council Resolution 26-R-3106. It includes anti-trafficking prevention training for over 1,000 individuals across business and community tracks. [City of Atlanta, United States, 2026] Seattle identified five priority areas: workers’ rights, human trafficking, inclusive celebrations, safeguarding vulnerable populations, and peaceful assembly. [SeattleFWC26, United States, 2026]
Philadelphia committed to establishing project labor agreements with unions that would guarantee living wages, safe working conditions, and expedited dispute resolution. [Morgan Lewis/Philadelphia Host Committee, United States, 2024]
Vancouver released a Human Rights Framework that includes a zero-tolerance protocol for discrimination at all public-facing venues and the FIFA Fan Festival. The city stated it would not displace homeless residents and would continue providing homelessness services throughout the tournament. [City of Vancouver, Canada, 2026]
The enforcement question remains open. A March 2026 Human Rights Watch assessment noted that all but one host city committee had “failed to present the human rights action plans FIFA promised ahead of the tournament or have produced plans that ignore or fail to adequately address risks, including those faced by immigrants, LGBT people, and journalists.” [Human Rights Watch, 2026]
A report from the Center for New York City Affairs documented that the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup — held in several of the same U.S. venues — surfaced 145 human rights concerns tied to immigration enforcement, federal law enforcement presence, and extreme heat. [Center for New York City Affairs/The New School, United States, 2026] This suggests that plans on paper do not necessarily translate into protections on the ground.
Pregnant workers remain largely absent from host city action plans. While OSHA and NIOSH have identified pregnancy as a risk factor for heat illness, and while the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (2023) requires reasonable accommodations, no host city plan reviewed for this report included pregnancy-specific heat protocols, rest-break guarantees, or dedicated health access for pregnant stadium or event workers.
The Periphery and the Center: Monterrey and Vancouver
Monterrey and Vancouver offer a revealing contrast in how host cities approach vulnerable-worker protections when starting from very different baselines.
Monterrey expects over two million visitors during the tournament. The city is in a region where human trafficking risks are elevated due to proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border, and where informal labor is widespread. The U.S.-Mexico bilateral training seminar represents a concrete, operational intervention: it trained the specific personnel who will be deployed at Estadio BBVA and the Fan Fest at Fundidora Park. The training covered detection, investigation, and victim assistance. [U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Mexico, 2025]
The data gap is in follow-through. There is no publicly available information on whether the sixty-plus trained personnel have, in turn, trained stadium vendors, food service contractors, or janitorial staff. There is no evidence of heat protocols tailored to Monterrey’s June temperatures, which routinely exceed 35°C. The occupational heat study identified Monterrey as one of the three highest-risk host cities for worker heat stress. [University of Waterloo/PubMed, Canada, 2026]
Vancouver, by contrast, operates within Canada’s more robust social-safety-net framework. British Columbia has a provincial workers’ compensation system (WorkSafeBC) that includes heat stress regulations. Vancouver’s Human Rights Action Plan commits to a zero-tolerance discrimination protocol, continuation of homelessness services, and no displacement. Community organizations, including the Pivot Legal Society and the BC Civil Liberties Association, have publicly critiqued the plan as insufficient, noting that Vancouver was not required to submit an initial human rights risk assessment — unlike other host cities. [Pivot Legal Society/BC Civil Liberties Association, Canada, 2026]
The contrast is instructive. Monterrey has targeted, operational training but limited institutional infrastructure for ongoing monitoring. Vancouver has stronger institutional infrastructure but a plan that critics describe as reactive rather than preventive. Neither city has published measurable baseline data against which to assess post-tournament outcomes.
Evidence Gaps and Next Steps
The 2026 FIFA World Cup has generated an unprecedented volume of human rights planning documentation across sixteen host cities. FIFA’s requirement that each city produce a Human Rights Action Plan represents a structural shift from previous tournaments. The data indicate that some cities — Atlanta, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New Jersey in particular — have attached specific funding, training targets, and legislative instruments to their commitments.
Substantial gaps persist. The evidence base for whether sex trafficking actually increases during World Cups is weak, yet anti-trafficking resources continue to flow disproportionately toward awareness campaigns focused on sex trafficking rather than labor trafficking. Labor trafficking — particularly in hospitality, food service, and construction supply chains — is identified by multiple academic sources as the more prevalent risk, but it receives less policy attention.
Heat protection for outdoor workers remains fragmented. The absence of a federal OSHA heat standard means that workers in Texas, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, and Pennsylvania — all host states — have no legally enforceable right to water, shade, or rest breaks linked to temperature thresholds. Pregnant workers and workers with limited English proficiency face compounded risks that are not addressed in any host city plan reviewed for this report.
Female teenagers entering the tournament workforce — whether as vendors, hospitality staff, or event support — fall under state-level youth employment laws that vary widely in their permit requirements and hour restrictions. No host city plan includes a dedicated youth-worker education or protection module specific to the tournament context.
The data on homeless women working in or around venue operations are essentially absent. Vancouver’s plan commits to non-displacement and continued services. Atlanta has a $212 million affordable housing development tied in part to World Cup preparation. Los Angeles County’s LA:RISE program provides transitional employment for individuals experiencing homelessness. But systematic tracking of whether homeless women secure tournament-related employment, under what conditions, and with what protections, does not exist in the available literature.
Evidence suggests that cross-sector partnerships — between city governments, labor unions, community organizations, and employers — produce more enforceable protections than city plans alone. Seattle’s collaboration with its Office of Labor Standards, Philadelphia’s commitment to project labor agreements, and Los Angeles’s coordination with the Sunita Jain Initiative are models. The extent to which these models produce measurable outcomes will not be known until post-tournament data are collected and analyzed.
Questions for Further Research
- What were the actual working conditions — including hours, wages, heat exposure, and incident reporting — for women employed in temporary tournament-related roles across host cities, and how did these conditions vary by city policy environment?
- To what extent did host-city anti-trafficking efforts address labor trafficking in hospitality and service supply chains, as distinct from sex trafficking awareness campaigns?
- What measurable outcomes — employment retention, wage levels, health incidents — resulted from partnerships between city governments, unions, and community organizations for workers drawn from homeless and undocumented populations?
4 Key Takeaways
- Sixteen host cities produced human rights action plans, but the quality, specificity, and enforceability of those plans vary widely; several cities had not finalized their plans as of weeks before the tournament.
- Occupational heat risk is concentrated in Houston, Miami, and Monterrey, yet only a minority of host states have enforceable heat illness prevention standards for outdoor workers.
- Academic evidence consistently shows that labor trafficking — not sex trafficking — is the more prevalent exploitation risk at mega-events, but host-city plans continue to emphasize sex trafficking awareness campaigns.
- Pregnant workers, female teenagers, homeless women, and undocumented workers are largely invisible in publicly available host-city planning documents, despite being among the populations most likely to fill temporary tournament roles.
Evidence suggests that host-city governments may strengthen worker protections by attaching enforceable labor standards — including heat illness prevention protocols, minimum wage floors, and anti-retaliation provisions — as contractual conditions for all vendors, contractors, and subcontractors operating at tournament venues and fan zones, with designated funding for independent compliance monitoring and multilingual worker education.
Citations
- University of Waterloo / PubMed, Canada, 2026 — Occupational Heat Risk at the 2026 FIFA World Cup: Implications for Worker Safety. Science of the Total Environment. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39824197/
- OSHA, United States, 2024 — Heat Illness Prevention: Prevent Heat Illness Among Pregnant Workers Fact Sheet (OSHA 4376). https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/OSHA4376.pdf
- OSHA, United States, 2024 — Proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Standard. https://www.osha.gov/heat-exposure/rulemaking
- California Department of Industrial Relations, United States, 2016 — Title 8 CCR Section 3395: Heat Illness Prevention in Outdoor Places of Employment. https://www.dir.ca.gov/title8/3395.html
- Seattle Office of Labor Standards, United States, 2026 — “Protecting Worker Rights is the Goal” Strategic Compliance Campaign. https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/WASEATTLE/bulletins/3d3e1e4
- University of California Press, United States, 2022 — Mitchell, Gregory. Panics without Borders: How Global Sporting Events Drive Myths about Sex Trafficking. https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520391604/panics-without-borders
- York University, Canada, 2023 — “Rights, not rescue: trafficking (in)securities at the sport mega-event.” Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2023.1207595/full
- Loyola Law School, United States, 2025 — “Preventing and Addressing Human Trafficking Related to Major Sporting Events.” Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative and Arnold & Porter. https://www.lls.edu/academics/experientiallearning/sunita-jain/news/pressreleases/la28-fifa-anti-trafficking-report/
- New Jersey Legislature, United States, 2024 — Assembly Bill A4432: Governor’s Survivor Leader Advisory Council and 2026 FIFA World Cup Human Trafficking Prevention. https://pub.njleg.state.nj.us/Bills/2024/A4500/4432_I1.PDF
- New Jersey Legislature, United States, 2025 — Senate Bill S3327: Commission on Human Trafficking Report Related to 2026 FIFA World Cup. https://legiscan.com/NJ/bill/S3327/2024
- U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Mexico, 2025 — “Seminar on Combating Human Trafficking Concludes in Nuevo León as Preparation for the 2026 World Cup.” https://mx.usembassy.gov/seminar-on-combating-human-trafficking-concludes-in-nuevo-leon-as-preparation-for-the-2026-world-cup/
- INEGI, Mexico, 2026 — Data cited via Mexico Business News: “The World Cup Economy: An Unequal Opportunity.” https://mexicobusiness.news/sports/news/world-cup-economy-unequal-opportunity
- City of Atlanta, United States, 2026 — “City of Atlanta Publicly Launches ATL26 Human Rights Action Plan ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026.” Resolution 26-R-3106. https://www.atlantaga.gov/Home/Components/News/News/15424/
- SeattleFWC26, United States, 2026 — “Human Rights Priorities.” https://www.seattlefwc26.org/human-rights
- Morgan Lewis / Philadelphia Host Committee, United States, 2024 — “2026 World Cup: Navigating Labor, Employment, and Immigration Challenges.” https://www.morganlewis.com/blogs/sportslaw/2024/02/2026-world-cup-navigating-labor-employment-and-immigration-challenges
- City of Vancouver, Canada, 2026 — “Human Rights Action Plan.” https://www.vancouverfwc26.ca/human-rights-action-plan
- Human Rights Watch, 2026 — “2026 World Cup: Tournament Will Kick Off in Climate of Fear.” https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/04/27/2026-world-cup-tournament-will-kick-climate-fear
- Center for New York City Affairs / The New School, United States, 2026 — “The World Cup Needs to Respect And Protect Local Communities.” https://www.centernyc.org/reports-briefs/2026/3/4/the-world-cup-needs-to-respect-and-protect-local-communities
- Pivot Legal Society / BC Civil Liberties Association, Canada, 2026 — “Press Release: Downtown Eastside Organizations Sound the Alarm after the Release of Vancouver’s FIFA 2026 Human Rights Action Plan.” https://bccla.org/press-release-downtown-eastside-organizations-sound-the-alarm-after-the-release-of-vancouvers-fifa-2026-human-rights-action-plan/
- University of Stirling, United Kingdom, 2022 — “Sport Mega-Events and Displacement of Host Community Residents: A Systematic Review.” Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2021.805567/full
- U.S. Department of State, United States, 2024 — “Migrant Worker Rights in the United States.” https://2021-2025.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/migrant-worker-rights-in-the-united-states/
- California Labor Commissioner’s Office, United States, 2025 — “Reaching Every Californian Public Awareness Campaign to Prevent Wage Theft.” https://www.dir.ca.gov/DIRNews/2025/2025-11.html
- OSHA, United States, 2022 — National Emphasis Program for Outdoor and Indoor Heat-Related Hazards. https://www.osha.gov/heat/national-emphasis-program
- ILO, 2025 — “Game Plan for Change: Advancing Decent Work through the 2026 FIFA World Cup.” https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/game-plan-change-advancing-decent-work-through-2026-fifa-world-cup
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