City of Atlanta Publicly Launches ATL26 Human Rights Action Plan ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026™

The City of Atlanta is proud to publicly announce the ATL26 Human Rights Action Plan. Led by the Mayor’s Office of One Atlanta andformally adopted by the Atlanta City Council through Resolution 26-R-3106, the ATL26 Human Rights Action Plan is a comprehensive framework for ensuring that the world’s largest sporting event reflects our values in both celebration and practice. “Atlanta has a legacy of leading the conscience of the nation for civil and human rights,” said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. “The ATL26 Human Rights Action Plan reflects the city’s values and decades of the unforgotten voices of the greatest civil rights leaders in history who called Atlanta home.” The plan is guided by a core principle: the FIFA World Cup 2026™ should happen with Atlanta, and not to Atlanta. This is the result of a deliberate, collaborative planning process grounded in community voice, cross-sector expertise, and long-term city priorities. Its development included:

• 75+ hours of community engagement
• 25+ organizations participating in public Community Engagement Sessions
• A cross-functional City of Atlanta internal team, including:
  • Mayor’s Office of One Atlanta
  • Mayor’s Office of Violence Reduction
  • Mayor’s Office of International and Immigrant Affairs
  • Department of Emergency Preparedness
  • Department of Innovation and Performance
  • Members of the City’s Strategy & Operations teams
  • Atlanta Department of Labor and Employment Services

Every initiative is designed to protect, include, and create lasting benefit for the communities that call this city home—before, during, and long after the tournament ends. “This Action Plan was built through partnership. Over the course of nearly 75 hours of community engagement, we heard from labor leaders, disability advocates, faith organizations, immigrant-serving nonprofits, anti-trafficking coalitions, youth organizations, and residents across Atlanta. Their voices shaped every section of this document, and their continued partnership will be essential to its success” said Chief Impact Officer Candace Stanciel, who led the efforts on the Human Rights Action Plan. What This Plan Covers The ATL26 Human Rights Action Plan addresses the full spectrum of human rights considerations associated with hosting a mega-event. It is organized around four pillars:

• Inclusion and Safeguarding: Protecting vulnerable populations, advancing child safety, supporting unsheltered residents, preventing human trafficking, ensuring accessibility for people with disabilities, expanding language access, upholding the right to peaceful assembly, safeguarding data privacy and digital rights, and mitigating adverse environmental impacts.
• Workers’ Rights: Ensuring fair wages, safe workplaces, freedom of association, wage theft prevention, small business readiness, and workforce development—with a $17.50/hour minimum wage as the baseline for all FIFA-related employment coordinated by the City.
• Access to Remedy: Establishing a unified grievance reporting portal with FIFA, strengthening the Human Relations Commission as the City’s primary anti-discrimination mechanism, and ensuring multilingual access to complaint systems.
• Accountability and Monitoring: Defining measurable metrics for every Legacy Impact Initiative, committing to quarterly public progress reports, and publishing a comprehensive Post-Games Human Rights Impact Report within six months of the tournament’s conclusion.

This plan identifies eight Legacy Impact Initiatives—programs and investments designed to deliver lasting value well beyond the final match. Each is paired with measurable targets and a commitment to post-tournament assessment:

• Human Rights Ecosystem Mapping — Convening and aligning 15+ partner organizations through at least four ecosystem meetings in 2026, with a publicly accessible directory of human rights resources.
• Youth Advancement and Support — Enrolling 200+ young people in leadership and development programs, with a 75% completion target.
• Careers in Sports Training — Three career exposure events reaching 150+ participants, with 50+ referred or placed into training and development experiences.
• Major Sporting Event Accessibility Readiness — Publishing a citywide Accessibility Readiness Kit by May 2026.
• Supportive Housing Assistance — 500 permanent supportive housing units and 2,000 households rehoused across 2025-2026
• Anti-Human Trafficking Prevention — 1,000+ individuals trained across Business and Community tracks by June 2026.
• Pride Programming — Two+ FIFA-connected LGBTQ+ community events with health, legal, and support resource distribution.
• Advancing Local Expertise and Remedy — Specialized HRC training, expanded community outreach, and reduced complaint resolution timelines.

Atlanta has always believed that progress is possible when communities work together toward justice. This Action Plan is both a commitment to the standards we believe every host city should uphold and an invitation to join us in making the 2026 FIFA World Cup 2026™ a model for what happens when human rights are placed at the center of global celebration. We welcome the world to Atlanta—with humility, with purpose, and with the determination to ensure that the joy of sport is grounded in fairness, justice, and shared humanity. Click here to view the ATL26 Human Rights Action Plan and here for the Executive Summary. For more information about how to engage, please contact: Oneatlanta@atlantaga.gov