European Athletics commits to respecting all internationally recognised human rights in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

European Athletics has published its Commitment to Human Rights, which was confirmed at the European Athletics Council meeting in Malaga, Spain on 18 January.

This follows the recommendations on how human rights requirements should be included into the bidding process and event life cycle for any organiser seeking to host a European Athletics event.

 

In Belgrade, on 22 April 2023, the European Athletics Congress approved the report of the European Athletics Council to investigate how human rights requirements should be integrated in the bidding process and regulations of European Athletics events, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), and throughout the event lifecycle.

As part of the report, six recommendations were issued. Work has started on drafting an implementation plan for the recommendations and their different sub-actions. 

 

While European Athletics commits to respecting all internationally recognised Human Rights as an organisation, the first step will be to implement the recommendations of above mentioned report, focusing on the events’ bidding and events’ lifecycle. 

 

In summary, these recommendations consider: 

• To increase the awareness and knowledge (know-how) of European Athletics and its Member Federations of Human Rights obligations, standards and considerations, supported by experts and through a range of training and educational measures and topics; 

• To embed principles of respect, protection and promotion of human rights in all stages of the event bidding process, in bidding documents, and in the event hosting agreement, as well as in various manuals and guidelines that establish the requirements for successful delivery of each functional area of the event; 

• To set-up and apply a Human Rights’ risk management approach and due diligence process in the bidding process for European Athletics Events, with the support of expert NGOs (international and local) and other external expertise;
  
  
• To continuously engage all stakeholders involved in the hosting of a successful European Athletics event, across the public, private and third sectors of the sport ecosystem, and to encourage them to embrace the same level of human-centric commitment and dedication to responsible implementation. 

European Athletics events should be a flagship for the respect, protection and promotion of human rights in Athletics in Europe, and the above principles shall be integrated in the events’ vision and concept of success, and be applied throughout the delivery of competition and realisation of its legacy.

 

Throughout this process European Athletics counted on expertise on Human Rights working closely with representatives from the Centre for Sport and Human Rights (CSHR) who expressed strong support on European Athletics pioneering such projects at the level of sport continental bodies.

”The Centre for Sport and Human Rights welcomes the publication of both the human rights commitment and the Council’s Recommendations.  We congratulate European Athletics for this important step towards embedding human rights due diligence and meaningful stakeholder engagement in its processes. We look forward to the next steps and stand ready to support,” said the Centre’s CEO Mary Harvey.            

“It’s so important that we continue to push forward and be at the very forefront of human rights in sport, so that any person directly involved with European Athletics events is treated with respect, with dignity and made to feel welcome at every stage throughout our event cycle,” added European Athletics CEO Christian Milz.