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FIFA participates at the Sporting Chance Forum in Paris

Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)

This week in Paris FIFA is taking part in the Sporting Chance Forum 2018 to help drive progress towards a world of sport that fully respects human rights.

During the two-day event at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, representatives of affected groups, governments, sports bodies, trade unions, sponsors, NGOs, broadcasters, National Human Rights Institutions, and intergovernmental organisations are discussing a diversity of issues including athletes’ rights, worker safety, child safeguarding, fan monitoring, media freedom and community well-being. The forum is hosted by the new Centre for Sport and Human Rights in partnership with UNESCO and IHRB.

“Over the past years, FIFA has made great strides to implement its commitments to respect and help protect human rights in a strategic manner and to ensure and uphold the rights of people that are or that may be affected by FIFA’s activities,” said Head of FIFA Sustainability & Diversity Federico Addiechi. “FIFA is actively supporting the development of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights and we are glad to participate at the Sporting Chance Forum to share our experiences and best practices, and learn from stakeholders and other experts that are also dedicated to promoting human rights in sport.”

Since 2016, FIFA has strengthened and systematised its human rights work following guidance from the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Examples include:

• Inclusion of an article on human rights in the FIFA Statutes in 2016 (see article 3)
• Development of a Human Rights Policy in 2017 in accordance with principle 16 of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and international best practice
• Systematic human rights due diligence checks and integration of human rights in the bidding and hosting requirements for its tournaments
• Set up of an independent Human Rights Advisory Board which provides FIFA with independent expert advice on its efforts to implement article 3 of its statutes, with members from the UN system, NGOs, trade unions, FIFA sponsors and other relevant organisations, as well as regular consultation and cooperation with a large number of additional stakeholders.
• Launch of a complaints mechanism for human rights defenders and media representatives who consider their rights to have been violated while performing work related to FIFA tournaments

(FIFA)