Empowering athletes’ human rights: Global research conference on athletes’ rights

• Date: 23 October
• label.tijd 09:00 - 17:30
• Location: T.M.C. Asser Institute

The newly launched ‘Global Sport and Human Rights Research Network’, an initiative jointly hosted by the T.M.C. Asser Instituut and the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, together with the European Union-funded project ‘Human Rights Empowered Through Athletes Rights (H.E.R.O.)' is organising a conference on October 23 in The Hague, to map the field of athletes' rights and engage in critical discussions on protection of these rights and how to prevent rights violations.

The one-day conference will kick off with a presentation by the H.E.R.O. team on their research results, followed by a short panel discussion. The rest of the day will be filled with four panels on different aspects related to the topic of athletes’ human rights, with speakers from academic institutions around the world:

Panel 1: Athletes’ right to remedy

With presentations by

• Marcus Mazzucco (University of Toronto) - Exercising administrative and judicial remedies under data protection laws to challenge the regulatory authority of international sport governing bodies
• Tsubasa Shinohara (University of Tsukuba and Field-R Law Offices) and Shoichi Sugiyama (Leiden University and Field-R Law Offices) - The rejection of legal aid by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in light of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights
• Aleksandra Szczerba (The Jacob of Paradies University; Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Poland) - Human rights violations in sports and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Poland: A critical analysis from an equality perspective

Panel 2: Athletes' labour rights

With presentations by

• Lorenz Fiege (German Sport University Cologne) -Athletes’ social protection in Europe: Current solutions
• Ginous Alford (UNI World Players Association) - The Right to Organise in relation to why Olympic athletes deserve pay and prize money
• Ella Limbach (German Sport University Cologne) - Women's football and the fundamental right to occupational health and safety: FIFA's responsibility to regulate female-specific health issues

Panel 3: Athletes’ health, safety and privacy

With presentations by

• Sarvesh Kumar Shahi and Lopamudra Satapathy (KIIT School of Law) - Judicial interventions on sexual harassment of women athletes in South Asian countries: A comparative analysis
• Giulia Sesa (KU Leuven), Pascal Borry, Sigmund Loland, Silvia Camporesi - Restricting sports participation on public health and individual well-being grounds
• Murtaza Mohiqi and Marzie Moheqqi (University of South-Eastern Norway) - Navigating digital ethics: Privacy, surveillance, and the human rights of athletes in the age of AI

Panel 4: Athletes’ freedoms

With presentations by

• Elif Durmuş (University of Antwerp)- Human rights duty-bearers in sports – who and why? A case study of Belgian football and anti-discrimination rules
• Afsah Siddique (KU Leuven)- Failure to protect the human rights of French athletes - the case of the hijab ban in Paris 2024
• Jonathan Cooper (University of Gloucestershire) - Fair competition in sport: a justification for the infringement of human rights or a vehicle for injustice?

Followed by a reception.

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