Danish Olympic Committee Hopes to ‘Influence’ Sport with Human Rights and Sustainability Expertise

By Matthew Campelli, Sport Sustainability Journal

After partnering with Amnesty International, the committee hopes to use its insight to help decision makers choose appropriate hosts for major sporting events

TO WORK TOWARDS A WORLD OF SPORT THAT FULLY RESPECTS HUMAN RIGHTS by sharing knowledge, building capacity and increasing accountability of all actors through collective action. That’s the mission of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, a sport-specific organisation formed by the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) in June this year.‍

The project has been in the pipeline ever since the IHRB assisted the Sustainability Commission of the London 2012 Olympics and started to develop white papers covering various human rights risks that could occur during the preparations of sporting events. And with major human rights violations reported in nations that have been awarded mega sporting events in recent years, another layer of scrutiny and support will be welcomed by those who want sport to be held up as an industry devoted to good practice and human equality. At the Fundamental Rights Forum 2018, hosted in Vienna last week, Alison Biscoe of the IHRB said that sport had the potential to be the “catalyst for progress and sustainable development”, but emphasised the importance of a collective approach that consisted of shared knowledge, capacity building and increased accountability. FIFA, UEFA and the Organising Committee of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games are among the 37 founder members of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights’ Advisory Council, as is the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar – an organisation that has made progress after being accused in 2016 of not doing enough to protect the rights of migrant workers.