Human Rights and International Sporting Events – Possible Ways Forward?

Mega-sporting events have recently been the subject of more and more public criticism, too often in the context of human rights violations, such as the FIFA World Cup in Qatar last year.

However, sport and international sporting events have a great potential to respect and promote human rights, especially when the actors, who bear responsibility, set an example.

Fairplay Initiative will host the 'Human Rights and International Sporting Events – Possible Ways Forward?' on 31 May at the Permanent Representation Of Austria To The Eu, Avenue De Cortenbergh 30, Brussels, Belgium.

Sport, public and civil society stakeholders, as well as representatives of EU member states, are invited to exchange views on the promotion of human rights in the context of major sporting events in their countries, to identify best practices, and plan next steps together.

The goal is to stimulate transfer of expertise as well as targeted and joint further action.

Those involved in the discussion are:

Sylvia Schenk - Member IOC Advisory Committee on Human Rights, Human Rights volunteer at FIFA World Cup 2024 in Qatar, former Olympic athlete
Martin Kainz - Consultant on Human Rights, Prevention of Violent Extremism and Sport, former coordinator Austrian Working Group Sport and Human Rights
Mary Harvey - CEO, Center for Sport and Human Rights (CSHR) (tbc)

The session will be moderated by Kurt Wachter from the Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation.

Registration is until 25 May 2023.