Embedding the human rights of players in world sport
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ARTICLE
Embedding the human rights of players in world sport Brendan Schwab1
T.M.C. Asser Instituut 2018
Abstract Continued revelations of human rights abuse in world sport have contributed to an ongoing crisis of confidence in the governance of international Sports Governing Bodies (SGBs). SGBs have also failed to respect and fulfil the fundamental human rights of players whose careers and livelihoods depend on sport’s legal framework and system of justice. The precarious position of the player at law and at work has been exacerbated by the development by SGBs of a special sports law—lex sportiva—which lacks legitimacy. The lack of legitimacy is rooted in a number of factors including (1) the lack of involvement of the people bound by the law in the making of it—the players; (2) the ongoing violation of the rights of players (especially vulnerable players who are, naturally, the ones most in need of the protection of the law); and (3) the law’s lack of compliance with internationally recognised human rights. The challenge and opportunity for SGBs is to act to legitimise lex sportiva by embedding the fundamental human rights of the players. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights provide the framework for doing so. The realistic outcome is a global sports law that proactively protects, respects and upholds internationally recognised human rights and which is enforceable through a properly designed grievance mechanism. Sport can be a genuine force for good by setting a global benchmark for the respect and fulfilment of human rights by business. Keywords Players Player associations Internationally recognised human rights United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Lex sportiva Legitimacy Human rights policy Due diligence Remedy Universal Declaration of Player Rights
1 Introduction: the law, power and people Sir Stephen Sedley, a former judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, has said ‘that the law’s chief concern about the use of power is not who is exercising it but what the power is and whom it affects’.1 In contrast, the chief concern of international Sports Governing Bodies (SGBs) has long been to autonomously establish and exercise a governing law
which is built on the notion of sport’s ‘specific nature’.2 Those subject to and most affected by that global legal order—the players—have, absent collective action, been unable to materially influence and shape it.3 Players are people first, and athletes second.4 Players are also the public face of world sport. Athletic performances are essential to the prestige, popularity and viability of the 1
O’Leary (2017, p. v). Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Art. 165, http:// eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:41f89a28-1fc6-4c92-b1c803327d1b1ecc.0007.02/DOC_1&format=PDF (Accessed 5 March 2018). 3 The words ‘players’ and ‘athletes’ are used interchangeably in this article. 4 Scott Fujita, Acceptance by example, on the field and
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