A/HRC/44/26 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 40/5, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a report on the intersection of race and gender discrimination in sport, including in policies, regulations and practices of sporting bodies, and elaborating on relevant international human rights norms and standards, and to present the report to the Council at its forty-fourth session. 2. A call for submissions for the present report was issued in November 2019. Twentyone submissions were received from Member States, 1 civil society organizations 2 and others.3 The report draws on these submissions and on recent findings of United Nations agencies and human rights bodies, regional organizations, non-governmental organizations and academic research institutes. 3. Chapter II of the report provides background on the intersection of race and gender discrimination in sport. Chapter III gives an overview of relevant international human rights norms and standards, and the corresponding obligations of States and responsibilities of sporting bodies towards women and girl athletes. Chapter IV focuses on the impact of female eligibility regulations on the enjoyment of human rights. Chapter V identifies possible gaps in the protection of the human rights of women and girls in sport. Chapter VI presents conclusions and recommendations aimed at enhancing such protection. 4. Taking into account the concerns raised in Human Rights Council resolution 40/5, the present report provides an analysis of the human rights impact of sports regulations and practices that require women and girl athletes with so-called differences in sex development – meaning variations in sex characteristics4 – whose bodies produce specified (higher-thantypical) levels of endogenous testosterone and are sensitive to androgens, to medically reduce their testosterone levels. II. Intersection of race and gender discrimination in sport 5. There is strong evidence of the benefits of sport for health and well-being, and also for building leadership, teamwork, perseverance and other essential skills. Globally, however, the level of participation of women and girls in sport remains lower than that of men and boys. 6. Numerous studies point to the factors linked to the lower participation rates of women and girls in both amateur and professional sport. Those factors can be both external to sport, such as discriminatory social norms or obstacles to reconciling the burdens of care, work and sport, and internal to sport, including the lack of programmes to create a gender-sensitive and safe sporting environment or to address harassment and other forms of gender-based violence in sport, including sexual exploitation and abuse. 5 7. As noted in some submissions, discrimination faced by women and girls in competitive and non-competitive sport cannot be divorced from the discrimination they face 1 2 3 4 5 2 Azerbaijan, Canada, Cyprus, Ecuador, El Salvador, Georgia, Italy, Mexico, Qatar and the Syrian Arab Republic. Amnesty International, Athlete Ally and International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA World), Human Rights Watch, International Committee of Jurists, Intersex Human Rights Australia, Iranian Lesbian and Transgender Network (6Rang), Physicians for Human Rights, Sexual Rights Initiative and Stop.IGM.org. The Commission for Gender Equality (South Africa) and the South Africa Women and Sport Foundation. Variations in sex characteristics, or “intersex”, is an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of innate bodily variations in sex characteristics. Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that do not fit typical definitions for male or female bodies, including sexual anatomy, reproductive organs and hormonal and/or chromosome patterns. See, for example, European Commission, Gender Equality in Sport: Proposal for Strategic Actions 2014–2020, February 2014.