HRH Prince Feisal underlines importance of safe sport at New Leaders Forum

HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein, IOC member and chair of the IOC Prevention of Harassment and Abuse in Sport Working Group, this week called on all sport organisations to turn awareness of safe sport into concrete action at the New Leaders Forum in Helsinki.

The New Leaders Forum is organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the European Olympic Committees (EOC) and hosted by the Finnish Olympic Committee. The IOC Gender Equality Recommendations constituted the framework of the Forum, with the aim of promoting equality, good governance and responsibility in sports leadership.

HRH Prince Feisal, addressing sports professionals and former athletes, underlined how sport leaders and future sport leaders share a collective responsibility when it comes to athlete safeguarding.

HRH Prince Feisal, who is also the president of the Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC), said:

“Although sport is inherently good, with many wonderful benefits, there are elements of sporting culture that may perpetuate or mask harassment and abuse. To truly safeguard athlete welfare, we must ensure that policies and procedures are implemented effectively across the board.

“Sports organisations share an enormous cultural power to demonstrate leadership in this important subject area. We must all strive to ensure that safe sport environments are universal and are considered a fundamental right of all persons involved.”

HRH Prince Feisal highlighted how approximately one in five children in Europe are victims of some form of sexual violence and it is estimated that in 70 to 85 percent of cases, the abuser is somebody the child knows and trusts.

The two-day Forum saw around 200 attendees from Europe and many other parts of the world. Amongst them were IOC president Thomas Bach and IOC members Princess Nora of Liechtenstein, Lydia Nsekera, Marisol Casado, Sari Essayah and Emma Terho.