The Inevitable Intersection between Sports and Human Rights
The Olympics often highlights the close connection between human rights and sport. The Olympics has a long history of human rights moments that have seized the attention of the globe throughout the Olympic and Paralympic carnivals. However, the connection between sport and human rights does not begin and end with the Olympics.
Sport and Human Rights
The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commission acknowledges that ‘[s]port is anchored in human rights values. It promotes fairness, non-discrimination, respect, and equal opportunities for all. As it reaches billions, including young people, it is a conduit for societal change through empowerment and inclusion.’
This function of sport, as a conduit for societal change through empowerment and inclusion, is constantly tested. However, where it is tested, sport often provides an avenue to take a stand for human rights.
An earlier MSLA micro blog outlined that the IOC decided to introduce UN Guiding Principles of Human Rights into the Paris Host City contract for the first time.[1] This was an attempt to break the cycle of human rights abuses that marred the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Sochi, and Beijing. The inclusion of the Guiding Principles required the host city, Paris, to ‘protect and respect human rights and ensure any violation of human rights is remedied in a manner consistent with all internationally recognised human rights standards and principles.’[2]
This begs the question – how does this manifest in practice?
The Olympics
In practice, the 2024 Olympics was like any other. Human rights issues reared their head again; issues with discrimination based on sex, censorship of the freedom of expression of religion in France, and concerns about the displacement of vulnerable people from City centres.
Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that ‘[e]veryone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.’ As such, all athletes should have their human rights protected.
This is often not the case. Article 5 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights states that ‘[n]o one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.’[3] During the Olympics the Algerian women’s boxing gold medallist was a ‘victim of widespread misinformation and unfounded allegations regarding her gender’ in an example of a potential breach of her human right to not be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.[4] Throughout the Olympics, the boxer was ‘falsely accused of being transgender despite living her entire life as a woman and having a long-standing career in women’s boxing’ according to an article in the Conversation.[5]
A rapid victory in her opening bout and subsequent comments by her opponent led to heightened abuse on social media that reignited the controversy that arose as a result of gender testing by the International Boxing Association (IBA). The IBA has since been stripped of its recognition as governing body of amateur boxing due to concerns surrounding corruption and governance issues.[6]
The Algerian gold medallist has unfairly been subject to cruel treatment and whether or not there is an appropriate remedied remains to be seen.
Australian Sport
Human rights concerns, dignity, and the protection thereof is a concern across all sports and competitions, including the AFL. Nicky Winmar, Adam Goodes, Eddie Betts, and, more recently, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan have all stood up against the racism that stains the AFL and many other realms of Australian sporting life.
Allegations of racism in the AFL are again in the news. Fresh allegations have been levelled at the Collingwood Football Club by the club’s former head of First Nations strategy relating to misconduct, and the ongoing dispute relating to Hawthorn Football Club has reached the Federal Court. According to SBS, the statement of claim lodged with the Federal Court ‘details a number of alleged incidents of racism and other misconduct’ that caused the applicants to suffer psychological harm, distress, and personal harm.[7]
Per the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, ‘[r]acial discrimination remains a barrier to the full realisation of human rights.’[8] The history of racism in AFL and Australian sport more broadly mars the enjoyment of sport and demonstrates the persistence of barriers to the full realisation of human rights, however, the power of athletes making a stand on some of Australia’s most culturally significant stages is significant.
Human rights and sport are not strange bedfellows, however, at times, they can be fertile ground for both the promotion of human rights and a stark realisation that human rights are not enjoyed by all.
It is important to note that the discussion of Collingwood and Hawthorn Football Clubs references allegations alone. These matters have not been adjudicated.
[1] https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/02/28/olympics-host-city-contract-requires-human-rights
[2] https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/Documents/Host-City-Elections/XXXIII-Olympiad-2024/Host-City-Contract-2024-Principles.pdf, section III(13.2)(b)
[3] https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
[4] https://theconversation.com/imane-khelif-the-algerian-boxer-who-overcame-an-ugly-gender-furore-to-win-olympic-gold-236175
[5] https://theconversation.com/imane-khelif-the-algerian-boxer-who-overcame-an-ugly-gender-furore-to-win-olympic-gold-236175
[6] ibid
[7] https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/details-of-cyril-riolis-racism-claims-made-public-by-court-documents/fi4ivzxin
[8] https://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/cerd