Sport and human rights1

Following a brief introduction to current problems and concerns with regard to international human rights, this essay is structured around three overlapping themes: 1) the right to participate in sports; 2) the achievement of human rights through sport; and 3) sport and the human rights of specific classes of persons. The first considers various charters declaring the right to participate in sport, and the widespread endorsement of these charters by nations around the world; and points to the ways in which such rights have either not been addressed, or have often been addressed in ways that are neo-colonialist, leading, for example, to the loss of aboriginal cultures, or to the establishment of systems of sport that emphasize the development of high performance athletes rather than broad-based participation. The second points out that the only major human rights victory that may be attributed, at least in part, to sport is that of the anti-apartheid movement. The third combines the right to participate with the achievement of human rights through sport by considering the various ways that sport has been involved in the achievement of human rights by specific classes of persons (women, persons with a disability, aboriginal people, etc.). The essay concludes with a consideration of international foreign policy initiatives, and the ways in which they have, and could, further human rights in and through sports; briefly considers the place of sport in achieving the Millennium Development Goals; and argues that the status of children should be the next major international foreign policy initiative in sport.