Reflections from the 2018 Sporting Chance Forum

Lucy Amis, Human Rights and Sport Specialist, UNICEF UK

The third annual Sporting Chance Forum convened in December 2018, as the world was commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was also the cusp of the 30th anniversary year of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It was fitting then that the 2018 Forum focused on themes of young athletes surviving and combatting sexual exploitation, and the impact of youth participation emerged as a key touchstone. 

Few present will forget the raw but courageous personal stories of three adult survivors of sex abuse – as recounted by ex-footballer Colin Harris, former swimmer Karen Leach, and rhythmic gymnast Jessica Howard. All described the long-lasting impacts of the abuse perpetrated against them by their coaches and sport medics, as they were young aspiring athletes. Each of these survivors has turned campaigner, and their offer to work with leaders in sport to deter and combat future such crimes cannot fall on deaf ears. Neither too should go ignored the call to action and requests for support from Shabnam Mobarez, Captain of the Afghan women’s national football team and her team-mate Khalida Popal, who reported on the atrocities still being endured by members of their team, some as young as thirteen, by sexual predators and figures of authority in Afghan footballing circles. 

Voices of, or on behalf of, other affected groups including fans, athletes, and workers offered compelling reminders of the work the Centre for Sport and Human rights still needs to drive, for example, in relation to LGBTI rights, player recruitment, migrant worker treatment, and journalist and human rights defender protection.

At the same time, we should not lose sight of tangible progress and emerging good practice evidenced by the Commonwealth Games Federation and FIFA, Japanese stakeholders ahead of Tokyo 2020, the Organising and Bid Committees for Paris ’24 and United ’26, within government national sports policy and in the fight against anti-corruption.

Nor should we forget the valuable contribution of business leaders, notably those sport sponsors and broadcasters that have broken new ground by joining and backing collective action efforts since the idea for the new Centre was first proposed back in 2015. Their contribution received less profile at the 2018 Sporting Chance Forum than it has in the past, but the crucial role of existing and new corporate partners still needs to be nurtured and harnessed.

As a counterpoint to some of the more challenging human rights issues discussed, it was a potent symbol of hope that the Forum for the first time featured insightful end-of-day reflections from two young sport network representatives, Viet Nyugen and Niels de Freguier. Their mature perspectives highlighted several of the opportunities and persistent roadblocks confronting the Centre and its supporters. Foremost among these is the continuing need for greater global South participation, and the urgency of driving sport and human rights efforts into grassroots sport. Consolidating alliances being forged with the agendas around sport for development and peace, climate change, and sports integrity movements will also be key. A huge opportunity also exists in increasing the youth, athlete, and affected group representation within Centre, and wider sport, decision-making. 

As we enter 2019 there are at last signs of a culture change on sport and human rights. UNICEF offers its appreciation to Mary Robinson and the IHRB team for their leadership, and pledges our continued support to the Centre for Sport and Human Rights in the months and years ahead. 

Jonas Baer-Hoffman, Secretary General for FIFPro Division Europe

“Yes, sport will be different, it will be better!”

These words—spoken by Eric Winston, President of the National Football League Players Association, at the World Players Association General Assembly in Paris the day before the Sporting Chance Forum—were an expression of confidence in the future of sport, based on a track record of organising and leading one of the most powerful groups of athletes in the world.  At the Forum the following day, Eric, Conrad Smith of the International Rugby Players, and myself for FIFPro joined the panel on athletes’ rights as player union representatives to deliver the same message of confidence in response to the current fear-mongering by some heads of sport organisations at the prospect of giving athletes a real and equal say in how their sports are being run. 

It is a time of profound change in sport. It is on the athletes together with a growing community of human rights activists, government representatives, sponsors, and other interest groups of sport brought together under the Centre for Sport and Human Rights to ensure that such change is built on respect and commitment to upholding our human rights, but also those of all others involved in sport. 

Professional athletes are trained to be faster, stronger and yes, more confident than most of us. Yet, our mantra as player unions is that our members are humans first, workers second, athletes third. And while seemingly invincible as athletes, their human and labour rights are disregarded more often than easily seen by the public eye. It is our core mission as player unions to change that.

Footballers - despite or perhaps due to playing in the world’s biggest sport - are no different when it comes to needing protections: 41% periodically go unpaid, in many places they are subjected to unscrupulous employment conditions including violence and discrimination, unionisation of players in many parts of the world is still frowned upon or actively undermined, and female players face gender-based violence and some of the worst inequality of all workplaces. One must only look at the news around the Afghanistan Women’s national team and Bahraini footballer Hakeem Al Araibi for evidence. The list is long.

The Centre for Sport and Human Rights provides a fantastic vehicle to educate and advise on human rights in sport. We hope that it will be more than that and that it will provide an effective remedy for those violations that sport is currently ill-equipped to handle. 

As the athletes’ rights panel during the Forum showed, the empowerment of athletes is critical to the wellbeing of sport. The governance of many sport organisations is challenged today and athletes are taking it upon themselves to organise and stand up for their rights. Starting a union is the first remedy athletes create for themselves to protect their rights. Yes, this brings change to sport. But if there is anything that football, US sports, rugby, or cricket have in common, it is that all of them have grown and started positive transformation once the players formed a united voice and championed their sport. So yes, sport will be different, it will be better!

Zhan Chiam, Gender Identity and Gender Expression Programme Coordinator, ILGA

What does sport have to do with human rights?

Which human rights are relevant to sport?

The first question is more easily answered, as playing sport and the holding of huge sporting events affect millions of people around the world, either as amateur or professional athletes, fans, workers and contractors, journalists, human rights defenders, businesses owners, or local communities.

The second question, which is about how to frame human rights in this myriad of contexts, has more complicated answers. It is against this backdrop that the new Centre for Sport and Human Rights, established in June 2018, hosted the third Sporting Chance Forum at UNESCO, Paris, and has the unenviable task of trying to answer some of these questions.

That the Centre is initially housed within the Institute for Human Rights and Business is telling, as is the fact thatit primarily list as foundational international human rights standards the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises, and the ILO Declaration on Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy. 

Representing The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), one of only two LGBTI organisations speaking at the Forum, I looked forward to learning about the issues and also hearing from individual athletes, journalists, and human rights defenders about how human rights violations have impacted on them. I was moved by accounts of sexual abuse faced by athletes, inspired by Somali and Afghan women who persevered in their sport in the face of militant violence, patriarchy and poverty, and encouraged by the words of commitment from international sporting federations, corporations, and governments.

A constant refrain was the challenge of suitable remedies in the context of mega-sporting events, and for athletes who are often in close, symbiotic relationships with a number of actors and for whom a pathway to resolution is often unclear. With the Centre’s wide range of Advisory Council members, one can only hope that these complex issues will be sufficiently addressed, and that the commitments made at the Forum will translate into workable solutions. 

On the second day of the Forum, I was privileged to speak on a panel addressing the human rights of fans, alongside speakers from the International Paralympic Committee, Football Supporters Europe, and Mary Harvey, the Centre’s incoming CEO. LGBTI persons in this context face a number of obstacles, ranging from mere participation in sports as a young person, which has a knock-on effect on whether they enjoy sport as a spectator, to violence and hate speech at major sporting events targeted at visible LGBT persons. At the root of all this is the perception of sport as a normatively masculine endeavour – owned by men, and played and watched by men.

The fear and reticence many LGBTI persons have in playing, watching or excelling at sport becomes internalised from this perception, but is also played out in different experiences based on one’s expression of gender, experience of one’s body, and on things overheard in changing rooms and on the field. The physicality, aggression, and competitiveness that often accompanies sport further hinders it from being a safe space for difference. That is why it is all the more important to celebrate those athletes, whether they are “out” or not, who challenge bodily normativity, gender stereotypes, and heterosexuality. 

The UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest obtainable standard of physical and mental health outlined in 2016 what States and sporting bodies can do to create an inclusive culture for LGBTI persons to fully and safely participate in sport. This includes removing requirements for irrelevant clinical data or unnecessary medical procedures as preconditions for trans persons to fully participate in competitions, and to refrain from forcing, coercing, or otherwise pressuring women athletes into undergoing unnecessary, irreversible and harmful medical procedures to participate as women in competitions. The Yogyakarta Principles plus 10 recommend that sporting organisations create welcoming spaces for participation, sensitise sporting communities on anti-discrimination laws, and work with the general public to respect diversity based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics in sports.

Even with this snapshot of recommendations there is much to be done. 

ILGA continues to work alongside these human rights processes and is excited to support the Centre for Sport and Human Rights to concretise these rights so that sport really is a fair and dignified place for all.

Andreas Graf, Human Rights Manager, FIFA

FIFA has been an active part of the sport and human rights movement from its inception. We contributed to the former Mega-Sporting Events Platform on Human Rights, and are now member of the Advisory Council to the nascent Centre for Sport and Human Rights.

As in previous years, the Sporting Chance Forum provided a very welcome opportunity for us to share updates on our human rights work and associated challenges, and to exchange with and learn from our many stakeholders in the field. We felt that the discussions at this year’s Forum generally reflected the growing breadth and maturity of the debate. 

We travelled to Paris with a key message: FIFA is part of the solution. This was the central theme of the introductory remarks delivered by Federico Addiechi, FIFA’s Head of Sustainability & Diversity, and was exemplified in my own intervention in the panel on the protection of human rights defenders and journalists. 

The discussions at the Forum reaffirmed the relevance of this message in multiple ways:

First, various stakeholders testified that, in their eyes, FIFA’s work to systematise and strengthen FIFA’s human rights-related efforts is making a real difference. Examples in that respect include the recognition of the rigour of FIFA’s human rights policy framework, the effectiveness of the comprehensive measures to combat discrimination at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, or the impact of various interventions in support of human rights defenders or journalists. Others emphasised the extensiveness of FIFA’s engagement with external stakeholders and the work with the FIFA Human Rights Advisory Board, which was described as an exemplary way to integrate external expertise and perspectives in the embedding of human rights throughout an organisation such as FIFA.    

Second, it was clear that FIFA is part of the solution in that the football-related challenges that were discussed during the Forum all require FIFA’s continued and, at times, enhanced engagement. For example, cases of abuse presented at the Forum highlighted the challenges athletes face in many countries around the world in seeking remedy for harm caused by coaches, officials, or others. While FIFA does have mechanisms in place at the international level to respond to such situations, legitimate questions were asked as to how FIFA can contribute to more effective mechanisms at the national or regional levels. It will require enhanced efforts, including by FIFA’s new Child Safeguarding Manager, who starts her work in January 2019 and was also present at the Forum, to strengthen FIFA’s preventative and remedial measures in this field.  

Third, the Forum demonstrated that FIFA is part of the solution in that FIFA is an active participant in the discussion and supports the movement on human rights in sport, including through its role on the Advisory Council of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights. We support the Centre because we are confident that this institution and its incoming CEO Mary Harvey can play an important role in helping to advance human rights in sport by being an objective and independent voice in the debate, by supporting those adversely affected to find adequate remedy, and by providing support to entities that aim to make progress on implementing their responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We look forward to seeing additional Sports Governing Bodies joining the debate in the next year. 

The focus of FIFA’s human rights work is on implementing the organisation’s own responsibilities and commitments. We plan to build on the strategic and wide-ranging steps taken over the past three years and further develop our work in that respect. As part of this, we look forward to continuing to engage with the new team at the Centre and with all other stakeholders in the field, and to discuss progress and challenges with everyone a year from now at the next Sporting Chance Forum.        

Maggie Murphy, Director of Public Policy and Sport integrity, Sport Integrity Global Alliance

The striking thing about the Sporting Chance Forum is that it’s full of people who don’t want to be there. 

They don’t want to be there because nobody’s rights should be violated in the name of sport. They don’t want to be there because basic good governance measures should have been implemented years ago. They don’t want to be there because they are victims who never imagined this post-sporting life for themselves.

And yet, because they don’t want still to be there in the future, they are there now.

Sport cannot exist without teamwork and the Sporting Chance Forum has it in bucket-loads. Players, athletes and their unions mingled with corporate sponsors such as Coca-Cola and Nike, alongside intergovernmental organisations, sports bodies, academics, and a gang of human rights, equality and anti-corruption NGOs. FIFA participated throughout the two days, sitting on panels with some of their harshest critics (which made the absence of the IOC, bar some opening remarks, more conspicuous). 

This is significant because whether we like it or not, no one sector can solve the huge challenges unearthed over the two days alone. But as I point out, the room was “not normal”. Its diversity is neither typical of the boards of most sports bodies nor of the make-up of most sports conferences. We are the converted. It’s now necessary to convert our own colleagues and partners and friends outside of the room. 

Three things I’d love to see the new Centre for Sport and Human Rights push for?

SIGA will be doing our bit, working to help stakeholders adopt better standards in good governance, financial integrity, sports betting integrity and more, and working with a broad range of parties from athletes to National Olympic Committees to betting companies. Only by joining the dots between the human rights violations and sport integrity measures – and by joining the dots between the key players, can we work towards not having to be here in the future.

1. Bringing sports bodies into the 21^st century on basic transparency and accountability. The sports world is so far behind on basic measures such as publishing financial accounts and codes of conduct. In 2015, my former employers, Transparency International found that 85% of Football Associations publish zero information on their annual activities, and 70% publish zero financial records. How can players, fans, and sponsors hold these bodies accountable when money goes missing without basic information?
    
2. Putting personality into policies and procedures. “Governance” and “integrity” and “codes of conduct” can often seem very sterile. But corruption impacts people: it is not a victimless crime. The harrowing and very honest accounts from a former gymnast, swimmer, and footballer on sexual abuse, and the pleas and demands from the female players on the Afghan National Team relating to allegations of abuse of their teammates is the wake-up call we need. The human rights world and the anti-corruption world need each other. Policies cannot be divorced from people. After all, in the words of Sylvia Schenk on my panel – “Good governance without human rights is not good governance”.
    
3. Breaking silos, not building them. Sadly, the sports world can be very territorial or siloed. We need to continue working in an inclusive, collaborative way. There is a role for different approaches – we don’t all need to be doing the same thing, but a one-sided debate or a discussion about solutions that only has half the affected parties in the room won’t lead to lasting impact.

Niels de Fraguier, French Committee Member, ENGSO Youth

Invited by the Institute for Human Rights and Business to take part of the 2018 Sporting Chance Forum, I had the honour to represent the youth voice as an ENGSO Youth committee member. Advocating the need for youth empowerment in sports structures, it has been a very fruitful opportunity to take part in the Forum in order to discuss and raise important questions related to sport and human rights.

The diversity of stakeholders at the event combined with the work already done by the Centre of Sport and Human Rights resulted on a meaningful follow-up of the 2017 Sporting Chance Forum in Geneva. The outcomes of current projects mixed with testimonies from athletes who faced abuse and awful training conditions provided an impactful event, illustrating the different realities that the world of sport is facing.

Based on the achievements of the Centre with the work of its Chair Mary Robinson and her team, a clear need for some follow-up actions was highlighted during the conference. Many concerns have been raised and it is now time to take action within communities to include every actor in decision-making processes for a real sustainable change. Having this network and partnership between main stakeholders using sport to achieve positive developments is necessary to strengthen the voice of sports advocates in front of governments and intergovernmental organisations. One of the most sustainable ways to succeed will be to get more members and donors helping to fund the Centre’s activities and believing in the role of sport to achieve better development.

Based on the Forum discussions, I personally do believe that the Centre should work and lead two new initiatives related to environmental issues and sport for social development. As a worker in the field of youth participation in sport, I would like to have seen more youth in the panels, as participants, and in the Advisory board of the Centre. I am hoping to see a major change in relation to the youth dimension at the Centre in the upcoming weeks in order to encourage and develop a needed diversity. I want to support and encourage the Centre to take a step forward by implementing all the discussions and reflections into local constructive and sustainable practices.

Dr. Courtney C. Radsch, Advocacy Director, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

I asked the audience at the Sporting Chance Forum to stand up if they had ever been contacted by, or relied on, a journalist to get their story out about human rights violations, labour abuses, or environmental degradation related to sports or a sporting event. At least half the room stood. Among them were Jessica Howard, one of the USA gymnasts who was one of the 332 abused by Dr. Larry Nassar. In a heart wrenchingly moving story during the session on sexual abuse in sport, she recounted being contacted by a reporter researching the story and discovering that she was not alone. 

Journalists are central to uncovering and publicising abuses, violations and issues related to sports and human rights. They have exposed industry-shaking scandals in international sporting, from Russia’s state-run doping scheme (leading to Russia’s suspension from Olympic activities) to bribery, corruption and the distressing aftermath of mega-sporting events. 

In Sochi, Russia, for example, institutional intimidation and harassment silenced reporting on the exploitation of migrant workers leading up to the 2014 Winter Olympics. When governments or institutions try to censor journalists covering human rights situations around sporting events they violate the rights of journalists to report on such events, the rights of the victims to expose their exploitation, and the right of the public to be informed.

Too often, we at the Committee to Project Journalists have found, the pomp and prestige of the world’s largest sporting events overshadow the responsibility of host countries and non-governmental athletic bodies to ensure the rights of journalists to report on the organisation, staging, and execution of sporting events.

Governments and private entities try to shield many of these stories from the public, and do so through threats and intimidation against journalists reporting them. In Qatar, as the country prepares to host the 2022 World Cup, security officials have attempted to thwart foreign news crews from their work by detaining them on at least three occasions, CPJ research has found. In 2016, security officials consigned a Danish news crew to ten hours of forced confessions, interrogations, and admonitions in a police station outside of Doha as they travelled to report on migrant workers. This came after two other troubling incidents where journalists’ existing reporting - that is, the stories that expose severe exploitation - were compromised. 

CPJ has found that violations against journalists covering sports and sporting events can range from harassment to murder, and may be perpetrated by a range of actors - from private citizens to governments to hitmen. In 2018, reflecting unfortunate norms in worldwide sports media, female sports journalists representing global news outlets at the FIFA World Cup in Russia were physically harassed and assaulted by fans on camera. In 2012, CPJ investigated the 2012 assassination of Brazilian sports reporter and commentator Valério Luiz de Oliveira, who had reported critically on the management of his local soccer club in Goiânia. Club management had previously banned de Oliveira from team headquarters - an early violation that would escalate to murder.

When states, governing sports bodies, and private citizens threaten, intimidate, detain, or otherwise silence reporters, they silence stories that are critical to the public interest, and further violate the vulnerable individuals that many of their stories cover. Sporting bodies and host countries all have a responsibility to let the press do its job.

That is why the adoption first by the International Olympic Committee, followed by FIFA, of an online tool for reporting abuses against journalists is an important first step toward improving accountability. But the creation of a mechanism is just the first step - it must also be widely publicised and then stress-tested.

This has not yet happened, and the lack of a plan remains concerning. And of course it is not a panacea – Jessica Howard would not have been able to use such a mechanism to report abuse – and much remains to be done throughout sport. This year’s Sporting Chance Forum surveyed the broad range of human rights threats and challenges, and put some important issues on the table. I hope at next year’s Sporting Chance Forum we will hear more about accountability solutions. 

Nicole Rodriguez, Footballer, Puerto Rico National Football Team

My first experience at the Sporting Chance Forum will always stay in my memory if for no other reason than for the indelible quantity of learning that I experienced over the two days. As an athlete myself, I had never sat down and thought about all of the stakeholders that would (and should) have their rights acknowledged in all arenas of sport. 

In the first panel session on Wednesday, James Esson asked all of the members in the audience to close their eyes and picture a sporting event. He asked us to picture who was playing, what sport it was, and who was in the crowd. As I closed my eyes I pictured the Premier League with a white Englishman playing football in a crowded stadium. Who is in that crowd? White men, chanting and drinking beer. As I opened my eyes I had to ask myself: Where are the women? Where are the children? It is incredible that even I, as a female athlete, fall into the pattern that most do – forgetting the disenfranchised and perpetuating the pattern of inequality. 

One of the things that really struck me as we listened to all of the panels is that the most prominent and powerful testimonies were those of current or former athletes. I think that despite the popularity of sport, the voices and rights that are often forgotten are those of the ones that we go to see perform each day. We need to continue to better this area and urge those in power to recognise and listen to these voices.

I believe that this is what was most apparent to me throughout the forum. Most people do not understand, or they fail to acknowledge, the voices that must be heard in order to create an equal playing field in sport. An arena where all rights are acknowledged and big organisations are held to a standard with checks and balances that promote the welfare of all involved. I think that the forum showed me that we have taken a good first step: acknowledging the problem and bringing awareness.

As we move forward and continue to strive for the betterment of all stakeholders we should keep these lessons in mind that we’ve learned from this Forum. However, we must also remember that our desires for equality are not yet satiated. This is a step in the long walk to equality.

Sylvia Schenk, Chair of the Working Group on Sport, Transparency International Germany

Just before Christmas the third Sporting Chance Forum in Paris presented a wide range of topics and speakers from the world of sport and the human rights community. Compared previous fora, there was a better balance between the voices of affected groups and those responsible for solutions.

The reports from survivors of sexual abuse in sport, including an American gymnast and representatives of the Afghanistan national women's football team, were extremely moving and demonstrated the urgent need for action. But this can only be a first step, necessary to raise awareness and support the victims as well as those fighting for them.

Remedy is most important for those already affected, but to prevent human rights violations in and through sport in the future, fundamental changes within and beyond sport are required. It has to start with a comprehensive analysis of the structure of international sport, deficiencies in management, and responsibilities of the different stakeholders. The close links between sport organisations, politics, business, and media (with sport news increasing sales, i.e. bringing money) on national and international levels result in a complex net of conflicts of interest that opens the door to any kind of political dependence, misuse, abuse, and criminal behaviour.

Without improvement in the governance in sport, i.e. increasing the resilience of sport organisations in this context, there will be no progress for human rights. Additionally, the national political situation has to be taken into account. Governments see sport, especially major sport events, as a means to raise their own and their country's image and to consolidate their power. In the long run sport can only resist against undue political influence if it becomes a vivid part of civil society, mobilising local populations to stand up for their (sporting) rights.

In Paris, the panel on "Governance and Anti-Corruption" thus emphasised the necessity to cascade the fight for human rights, transparency, accountability with check and balances, and participation, to the national level. It will be decisive for the Centre on Sport and Human Rights to find a way to involve national governments from all continents and different political systems into the future work.

The same applies to basic acknowledgment of positive examples like FIFA, which presented in Paris its comprehensive approach to human rights challenges based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human rights. Fundamental change needs time, with developing and implementing policies and procedures in parallel to ongoing crisis management, and cannot succeed without political change on the country level. Criticism of those who have started the process and work on it continuously but – of course – still face deficiencies, must avoid becoming a deterrent for others to follow.

Sports officials who are open to change will not start at all if they fear that any commitment to their organisation's human rights responsibility and first practical steps increase the scrutiny instead of triggering support. 

So Mary Harvey, an Olympian gold medallist and a human rights and management expert, is a perfect choice as the Centre's incoming CEO to overcome any differences, fears, and prejudices, and to bring together all those who can have a positive impact, winning needed allies, especially within the sport organisations. 

Conrad Smith, Retired New Zealand national rugby player and Legal Advisor for International Rugby Players

The 2018 Sporting Chance Forum offered the chance for player union representatives and others to demonstrate how, when organised professionally and run ethically, sport can unite, motivate, and inspire mass communities including players, supporters, and spectators of all ages and walks of life. The Forum also showed that under its current systems of governance, sport is fraught with the potential for abuse. 

There is an inherent imbalance within sport among those who organise and coach and those who participate. Those who organise are generally older, male, with control over the funding, the selections, constantly giving the orders, managing the process. The athletes, generally younger, are constantly out to impress, to achieve selection, meet their targets, secure their funding, succeed.

Such a relationship, while natural to a point, is nevertheless open to abuse if not carefully managed. And the key to managing this relationship is empowering the athletes, giving them a degree of control within their environment. There are many ways to achieve this and within my own sporting environment there has been a strong player union that is not just consulted or asked to comment on decisions already made, but actually works in partnership with the sporting body and genuinely contributes to the management and direction of the sport.

Such empowerment is not easily achieved and there is consistent resistance from governing bodies that feel it is their place to organise and the players’ role to simply participate. However, such beliefs are now continually shown to be baseless and motivated more out of greed to hold onto power rather than promoting the sport.

Any strong governance model should welcome contributions and challenges from all stakeholders and this is why the contribution of players should not be resisted but welcomed and catered for. I am a strong believer in the value of genuine athlete participation in sport governance and believe the continued success of those sporting organisations who embrace this concept, and the failings of those that don’t, will ensure that this will become the expectation and not the exception in the years ahead.

Matthias Thorns, Deputy Director-General, International Organisation of Employers (IOE)

Business has a key interest on the issue of sports and human rights. Sponsorship, the building of infrastructure, the production of equipment, and provision of services, are all modes that link business to the world of sports and sporting events. As part of its responsibility under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, business needs to and wants to identify and mitigate possible adverse human rights impacts. However, the challenges that companies face often are systemic issues to which systemic responses are required. The Centre for Sports and Human Rights has a key role to play in addressing these systemic challenges. 

The Centre is not just another international organisation, multi-stakeholder initiative, nor another NGO, but a “suis generis”. This makes it significant as it brings together the relevant actors to address the challenges comprehensively, recognising that all actors have a role to play. If we want to change the situation on the ground, we need to work together and not oppose each other. The Centre will connect all our efforts. The Centre will also have an important role to ensure continuity in the efforts to mitigate adverse human rights impacts. We do not need to reinvent the wheel every new World Cup or Olympics, nor should we make the same mistakes at every bidding procedure. We need to move forward instead of in circles, with the Centre helping to coordinate this.

Our joint work on sport and human rights has made significant progress in the last two years. The IHRB team incubating the Centre in its first two years, as well as Mary Robinson as the Centre's Chair, do a great job. However, despite all progress, enthusiasm and dedication, we must be cautious not to spread our efforts too thinly so as to stay at the surface. We need to look into the added value of the different work streams of the Centre, particularly as there are accomplishments on the challenges linked to business and human rights. 

The IOE is committed to the continued support of the work of the Centre. Employers Federations have a key role to play with regards to awareness raising and capacity building, facilitation of partnerships and the exchange of experiences, as well as to speak up in cases when individual companies are challenged to do so.

Andy Spalding, Professor of Law, University of Richmond

“There can be no human rights without reducing corruption.” So said a speaker at the 2018 Sporting Chance Forum, and in so doing captured a salient theme of the whole two days' discussions. If corruption is the abuse of entrusted authority for private gain, then so many of the human rights abuses evident in sport are acts of corruption, at the same time and to the same degree. 

Corruption is not merely bad government. A human right s violation is thus not inherently an act of corruption; it becomes so when the abuse of authority occurs for personal benefit. 

The Forum reminded us that while a government official obviously has entrusted authority, so does a member of a sports governing body, or the manager of a company tasked with building key sports facilities, or a coach or doctor to whom promising athletes are entrusted at very young ages. And the personal gain for which the authority is abused need not be strictly monetary. It may be about reputation, or status. It may be sexual.

A philosophical belief that social stability is jeopardised by freedom of the press is not itself corrupt, though imprisoning reporters to prevent the exposure of systemic embezzlement certainly is. Sub-optimal working conditions are not, in and of themselves, corrupt, but when workers aren’t paid because the managers have stolen the funds, they are. And harsh or even abusive coaching methods may reflect a twisted view of sports’ importance and a callous disregard for athletes’ long-term wellness, but are not corrupt when done only to push the athlete.  

But the many testimonials shared in the 2018 Forum of sports officials, coaches, and doctors abusing young athletes for personal sexual gratification are among the most blatant and repulsive acts of corruption imaginable. The human rights of fans, workers, and athletes will never be secure until the norms and practices of the anti-corruption movement are fully integrated into organised sport.

As so many panelists and audience members suggested, the pace of social change is frustrating.

We celebrate the development of sport governance standards by the UN, OECD, International Partnership Against Corruption in Sport (“IPACS”), the Sports Integrity Global Alliance (“SIGA”), and many others.  But we lament the soft-law nature of these standards and the dearth of effective enforcement mechanisms. We recognise the development and implementation of seemingly sophisticated anti-corruption compliance systems, but rightly complain that these systems often reflect a “check the box” mentality and lack a good-faith commitment to the anti-corruption ethic.  

We should realise, though, that soft-law is a step in the progression from no law to hard law. And check-the-box compliance is a step in the progression from no compliance to good-faith compliance. As advocates and visionaries we are right to note the expansive gap between where we are and where any decent society would be. But so too should we step back and see the historical trajectory of which we are a part, one that trends toward increased acceptance of the anti-corruption ethic, better and more widely implemented compliance systems, and the pairing of anti-corruption standards with civil and even criminal enforcement. 

Salt Lake City’s corrupted officials did not go to jail, but many in Brazil and South Korea did. Sports historically celebrated its autonomy, but today, the Agence Anticorruption Francais works closely with numerous public and private entities involved in preparing for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. Working conditions were deplorable in Qatar at the moment FIFA awarded the 2022 Men’s World Cup, but today, with the collaboration of the media, civil society, sports governance bodies, and Qatar’s national government, systemic labor reforms are implemented in ways that extend well beyond sport and are likely to remain after the games are gone.  

A training athlete must break herself down if she is to become stronger. With so many reports of corruption and human rights abuses, sports often feel broken down. But we are in a better place now than we were ten years ago, and as this Sporting Chance Forum reconvenes in future years, we just may marvel at how strong we've become.

Ambet Yuson, General Secretary, Building and Wood Workers International

The Building and Wood Workers’ International has been at the forefront in pushing for human rights and labour rights in mega-sporting events.

Our objective has been to ensure decent work and safety and health for construction workers of mega-sporting events.  

At the 2018 Forum, BWI examined the preparation for the Paris Olympics, where things have been, mostly, done right. There has been participation by trade unions, employers, and many others from the beginning, not as an afterthought. This shows that if there is commitment and goodwill at the start of the race, where laws and inspections systems are in place, then the potential to ensure human rights is higher.

However, the real test is on the finish line and this is the real challenge for everyone. 

An important element of this year’s Forum was the focus on the rights of athletes. Since sports is big money, too often there is a misconception that athletes are paid well; however, the reality is that only a small percentage of athletes have million-dollar salaries. 

The poignant personal stories shared by athletes of sexual abuse and survival at the hands of their coaches and medical professionals were an important reminder that we need to do more to stop sexual abuse and harassment in sports. The BWI stands in solidarity with the athletes who are uniting collectively and joining trade unions to defend themselves and more importantly, we will join the fight to stop sexual abuse and violence against not only athletes but all workers in the name of sports.

The Forum exemplified much progress that has been made in the area of human rights and sports in the last decade. However, much progress remains to be made. 

The Forum also highlighted the important public space which provides an opportunity for all stakeholders to discuss, strategise and lay out a vision to ensure human rights. We can only claim victory if real and substantive change happens on the ground, where all workers benefit from human rights and labour rights. If this does not occur, the valuable contributions and discussions which took place in the Forum are mere talk.

Mahmoud Qutub, Executive Director, Workers' Welfare, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Qatar 2022

The Sporting Chance Forum 2018 was a great opportunity for the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy’s Workers’ Welfare team to meet and engage with experts on the key aspects of human rights in sport.

The diversity of geographies and topics covered makes this a truly unique forum and it was clear that challenges exist across the board and there is a lot we can learn from each other. The event provided a perfect platform for passionate, influential people to come together to discuss and collaborate on solutions for challenges that transcend culture and geographies. 

The calibre of speakers, coupled with the honesty and transparency they exhibited in sharing their experiences was a highlight of all the sessions. There was acknowledgement that we don’t individually have the answers to all the issues, but collaboration is key to designing solutions and each one of us has experiences and learnings that we can bring to the table that can shape the future of human rights. 

In my conversations with other participants, what was very clear was the commitment of stakeholders to work together on complex challenges and the need to evolve existing approaches to meet the needs of the future. 

It was also great to see other mega events like Paris 2024 putting human rights at the forefront and we are certain that they will be able to use the event to accelerate change just the way we have been able to in Qatar.

It was a well organised, engaging event with excellent networking opportunities. It certainly opened the door to critical and constructive dialogue to meet challenges head on. We look forward to attending the event in 2019. 

Daniela Heerdt, Research Officer, Centre for Sport and Human Rights

At the 2018 Sporting Chance Forum, two arguments formed a common thread throughout the discussions.

First, there was widespread agreement that a lot has been achieved since IHRB began its work on making the world of sports more human rights-compliant.

The rapid development of the multi-stakeholder initiative from the MSE Platform for Human Rights to the Centre for Sport and Human Rights in just three years speaks for itself. These efforts have helped to raise awareness of sports-related human rights issues and to identify the broad range of human rights issues affected by sports, which were fittingly reflected in the various panels spread over the two days. The contributions and discussions brought forth a consolidated level of agreement on human rights standards applicable to the world of sport. Progress was also visible with regard to stronger engagement of those affected, reflected in the unprecedented number of panellists representing affected groups. 

Equally strong was the argument for the ongoing need to keep working for a world of sports that fully respects human rights.

Certain groups of those adversely affected by sport were still under- or even un-represented, and strengthening efforts for finding ways to include them more was on the agenda of many forum participants. Furthermore, a number of speakers called for urgent action to address ongoing sports-related human rights abuses, such as the case of the Afghan women’s soccer team, or the precarious situation of the football player Hakeem al-Araibi. Various institutions and bodies with relevant mechanisms and capacity were called upon to explore ways for strengthening their mechanisms and sharing knowledge so that the respective actors within the sports world can be held accountable for their human rights responsibilities.

Within these calls for action, it was the Centre for Sport and Human Rights that was referenced most, and great expectations were voiced towards the Centre’s work.  

Suad Galow, Founder, Somali Women Foundation

It is a great pleasure and privilege for me to take part in 2018 Sporting Chance Forum in Paris, alongside influential representatives from across many stakeholders including NGOs, government institutions, media, and relevant groups, to explore and highlight critical issues pertaining to human rights in the field of sport.

I was really impressed by the great speakers, especially those who shared real personal stories despite the risk they might face just for speaking up. They illustrated the types of abuse, sexual harassment, discrimination, and other misconducts they experienced while practising sport. 

These stories are really very effective and powerful in capturing the attention and mobilising the efforts of the relevant stakeholders and media to take action and make positive changes. This attention was obvious from the reflections and interaction of the participants and their interest to elaborate further on how to provide possible support to combat human rights violations and misconducts in the field of sports.

Therefore, I believe that the Forum gave a good opportunity for those speakers to get in touch with and get the support of the relevant stakeholders to implement initiatives advocating for human rights and working to eliminate all forms of violations in sport.

It would also be great if this platform could help in connecting them with the potential donors from private sector companies and media so they can have the possible support, funding, and media coverage for their initiatives.  

Having participated in 2017 and 2018 Sporting Chance Fora, I believe that IHRB and the relevant partners/ stakeholders are on the right track, so far, in touching and addressing the human rights opportunities and risks associated with sport.

However, it is a long way yet and there is a lot to be done to achieve the goals we are targeting. The efforts should be continued based on joint action plan with clear division of roles and responsibilities among the stakeholders to move forward with practical actions in terms of policy-making and implementation on the ground.