Sport and Rights

Introducing Responsible Sport, our Strategy for 2026–2030

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:21:20 GMT

In the comings weeks, we are launching "Responsible Sport", our new strategy for 2026-2030. It is a roadmap to a world of sport where everyone feels safe, included, and respected.

In this new episode, as we introduce the strategy, we take a moment to reflect on the evolution of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, the demands of the moment, and what it will take to close the gap between sport's promise and its lived reality.

Join us for a conversation featuring:

Lene Wendland, former Chief of Business and Human Rights section at the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR).

Mary Harvey, CEO of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights.

William Rook, COO of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights.

Ten Years On: Reflecting on the Origins and Future of Sport and Human Rights

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:55:54 GMT

In the coming weeks, the Centre for Sport and Human Rights will publish Responsible Sport, our strategy for 2026–2030. The roots of this refreshed strategy go back a decade — to three days in November 2015, in Glion, Switzerland, when the question of whether sport could better address its human rights impacts was put to a room of diverse stakeholders representing a range of institutions and governments.

Ten years on, from that pivotal meeting, six participants in the original meeting join our COO William Rook to reflect on what has changed, what has proven more resistant to change than anticipated, and what the next decade requires.

Featuring:

Mary Harvey - CEO, Centre for Sport and Human Rights

William Rook - COO, Centre for Sport and Human Rights

John Morrison - Former CEO of the Institute for Human Rights and Business

Rémy Friedman - Senior Advisor on BHR, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

Philip Jennings - Former General Secretary of UNI Global Union

Minky Worden - Director of Global Initiatives, Human Rights Watch

Lucy Amis - Special Advisor, Centre for Sport and Human Rights

Michael K Addo - Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame

Rights, Sport, and Disability

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 16:28:00 GMT

This episode of the sport and rights podcast brings together experts, academics and practitioners to discuss the implications of a new report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to the Human Rights Council (HRC).

The Report advances the discussion around the rights of persons with disabilities to participation in sport under article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

In this podcast, Amy Farkas Karageorgos, Advisor to the Centre on Child and Disability Rights, sits down with four leaders that have been involved with drafting the report and who are working to advance article 30.

Featuring:

Facundo Chavez Penillas, Human Rights and Disability Advisor, OHCHR

Eli Wolff, Director, Disability in Sport International and the Power of Sport Lab

Juan Pablo Salazar, Governing Board Member, International Paralympic Committee

Susan Masila, Manager of Government Relations and Global Development for Special Olympics Africa Region

Shalel Tennah, Special Olympics Athlete from Kenya

Climate Change and Sport with Mary Robinson

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 17:28:00 GMT

With 2020 set to be one of the hottest years on record, climate change is bringing harsher heatwaves, heavier rain and fire risks among other threats. Playing and watching sport in 2021 will be increasing challenging. Long-term climate change will potentially increase migration, driving increased human rights abuses, racism and discrimination. In sport, the effects will not be evenly spread. Damage to playing surfaces, buildings and infrastructure, heat exhaustion, impact injuries from harder surfaces, potentially harmful algal blooms for water sports will all disproportionately affect the poor and young.

Featuring Mary Harvey, CEO of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights and Mary Robinson, Chair of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights.

International Women's Day Special: Women's Leadership in Sport

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 17:27:00 GMT

In this episode we look into how women in sport have been leading change in these challenging times, what progresses we have made as society towards gender equality in sports, structural barriers that remain, and effective measures to level the playing field for women and girls in sport.

Featuring:

Mary Harvey, CEO, Centre for Sport and Human Rights

Sandra Kirby, Olympian and Founding Member of Safe Sport International

Amanda Vandervort, Chief Women's Football Officer at FIFPRO

Gabriela Matus Bonilla, IOC Young Leader and member of the IOC's Women in Sport Commission

Children, Sport & COVID-19: Building back to a better future

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 17:26:00 GMT

In this, sixth and final episode, we look toward the future and are reminded of the value and beauty that sport and play provide not only to millions of children around the world, but also to the ideals of cooperation, community, competition and peace.

Featuring:

Mary Harvey, Centre for Sport and Human Rights

Kirsty Burrows, Sports Rights Solutions

Dr Najat Malla M'jid, United Nations

Elda Moreno, Council of Europe

Dr Chungwon Choue, World Taekwondo

Children, Sport & COVID-19: Children with Disabilities

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 17:26:00 GMT

On this episode our guests discuss the important roles that sport plays in the lives of children with disabilities and observations on the specific impacts that the restriction in access to sport is having,

Featuring:

Mary Harvey, Centre for Sport and Human Rights

Kirsty Burrows, Sports Rights Solutions

Dr. Cheri Blauwet, Harvard Medical School

Charles Nyambe, Special Olympics Africa

Children, Sport & Covid19: The growth of eSports

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 17:25:00 GMT

eSport has seen exponential growth over the past few years and the pandemic has only increased its rise in popularity. In this episode, we discuss gaming's enormous reach and explore both the challenges, such as online safety and increased screen time, as well as its power for social change, education and the opportunity for connection during a time of isolation.

Featuring:

Mary Harvey – Centre for Sport and Human Rights

Kirsty Burrows – Sports Rights Solutions

Boban Totovsk - iInternational eSports Federation

Oliver Weingarten - LDN UTD

Josianne Galea Baron - UNICEF

Alfonso León - International eSport Lawyer

Children, Sport & COVID-19: Elite Youth Athletes & Listening to the Voices of Young People

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 17:24:00 GMT

In this third episode of the special podcast series on Children, Sport and COVID-19, we will discuss the critical importance of the voice of the child, the need for role models and other persons of support for young athletes, and the necessity for safe and smart training plans as young people gradually return to sport.

Featuring:

Mary Harvey – Centre for Sport and Human Rights

Kirsty Burrows – Sports Rights Solutions

Philippe Furrer - insPoweredBy

Kirtie Algoe - Athletes' Comission of the National Olympic Committee of Suriname

Children, Sport & COVID-19: Impacts associated with the absence of Sport (part II)

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:22:00 GMT

This episode continues the conversation started in episode 1 concerning the impacts associated with the absence of sport and that impact on children. Today we look specifically at the impacts felt by children in humanitarian situations, as well as the difficulties faced by sport for development programs.

Children, Sport & COVID-19: Impacts associated with the absence of Sport

Sat, 09 Jan 2021 17:22:00 GMT

This episode looks at how the absence of sport is impacting both the physical and mental well-being of children all around the world. From feelings of isolation, loss of team dynamic, or just the lack of physical activity, children are grappling to figure out this new normal.

Featuring:

Mary Harvey – Centre for Sport and Human Rights

Kirsty Burrows – Sports Rights Solutions

Dr. David McDuff - Maryland University

Dr. Annie Sparrow - World Health Organisation

Dr. Yetsa Tuakli-Wosornu – Yale School of Public Health

Special Series Introduction: Children, Sport & COVID-19

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 17:21:00 GMT

In April 2020 the Centre for Sport and Human Rights led a call for experts and practitioners in child rights, protection, and safeguarding in sport to come together to consider the Sports-Related Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children. A paper of the same name was subsequently published in June 2020.

This 6-part Centre for Sport and Human Rights Podcast Series is a continuation of this initiative, seeking to bring together experts and practitioners from around to the world to discuss in depth the evolution of the sports-related impacts of COVID-19 on children as the world continues to grapple with this pandemic and the particular crisis it presents to young people around the world.

Qatar 2022 with Ambet Yuson and Hassan Al Thawadi

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 16:20:00 GMT

Qatar's human rights record has been in the spotlight since they won the right to host the FIFA Mens World Cup back in 2010.

Recently there have been some major developments in labour laws in the country but there are still a lot of challenges, including ensuring that standards developed for the World Cup take root across the country.

In this podcast Centre CEO Mary Harvey sits down with two people who have been at the centre of all the changes: Ambet Yuson, General Secretary of BWI (Building and Wood Workers International, the global trade union representing over 12 million construction workers worldwide); and His Excellency Hassan Al Thawadi, the Secretary General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy and the CEO of the Qatar World Cup Local Organising Committee.

Pandemic and Protests with Lisa Baird

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 16:11:00 GMT

This year has seen two major impacts on the world of sport. The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted sport all over the world, and with it, threats to athlete, fan and worker health and safety. We also saw an increase in athlete activism, ignited by the deaths of George Floyd, Brionna Taylor and Ahmaud Aubry. At the Centre, we’ve looked at how both of these events have impacted the world of sport and human rights. How can sport return to play safely? What of the impact on women’s sport? And how can athlete activism and athlete voice – their right to freedom of expression – be accommodated on the field of play?

One league in particular, the National Women’s Soccer League or NWSL, in the United States, successfully navigated these challenges in holding its 2020 season – the first professional sports league in the United States to do so – this past spring. At the helm of the NSWL is Commissioner Lisa Baird. Lisa is the former chief marketing officer of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and a senior VP of marketing and licensing for the NFL.

Just five months into her tenure, Commissioner Baird navigated a return to sport during the Covid pandemic, negotiated a landmark broadcast deal, secured big-name sponsors and announced a new expansion team in Los Angeles.

In conversation with Centre CEO Mary Harvey, Commissioner Baird talked about her first season in the NWSL, and how she navigated what may have been the choppiest waters ever faced for the League.

Athlete Abuse with Minky Worden

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 16:10:00 GMT

In the first of our regular series of podcasts, Centre CEO Mary Harvey spoke to Minky Worden, the Director of Global Initiatives at Human Rights Watch.

Minky has taught as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) since 2013. Before joining Human Rights Watch in 1998, Worden lived and worked in Hong Kong as an adviser to Democratic Party chairman Martin Lee and worked at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. as a speechwriter for the U.S. Attorney General. She is the editor of The Unfinished Revolution 2012 and China's Great Leap 2008, and the co-editor of Torture 2005.

Minky spoke about the recent Human Rights Watch report on the abuse of child athletes in Japan 'I Was Hit So Many Times I Can’t Count' the recent tragic suicide of South Korean triathlete Choi Suk-hyeon and how sport can be a catalyst to improve human rights worldwide. You can follow Minky on Twitter @MinkysHighjinks and Human Rights Watch @HRW.

Sport and Rights Trailer

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 11:17:00 GMT

Welcome to the Sport and Rights podcast, brought to you by the Centre for Sport and Human Rights.