A/HRC/32/33 Protect 19. States should ensure full compatibility between sport policies, rules, programmes and practices, and human rights law, and should intensify their efforts to prevent systemic and ad hoc rights violations perpetrated by third parties. States should develop policies that incorporate international human rights standards, and should require public and third-party providers to adopt policies that are compatible with human rights standards, making funding or support contingent on that adoption, where appropriate. For example, sport policy programmes could require national sports organizations to respect the Convention on the Rights of the Child and to conduct mandatory monitoring of child rights in sports. 20. States should also provide training and materials to sports organizations on the adoption of rights-based approaches to health in the sporting context. These should include information on protection against physical, sexual and psychological abuse, exploitation and violence, on protection against discrimination and on gender equality, on appropriate limits for intensive training, especially for children and young people, on protection against coercive/forced doping and medical procedures, and on other rights connected to the right to health and sport, such as young athletes’ right to an education. 21. Protection of the human rights of those participating in sport and physical activity is a State obligation under the right to health. There are numerous documented instances of health rights abuses within competitive sport: the General Assembly has acknowledged with concern “the dangers faced by sportsmen and sportswomen, in particular young athletes, including, inter alia, child labour, violence, doping, early specialization, overtraining and exploitative forms of commercialization, as well as less visible threats and deprivations, such as the premature severance of family bonds and the loss of sporting, social and cultural ties”.21 22. Such practices also exist at the amateur level but are less well researched. For example, injury, illness and violence arising in the context of organized children’s sport is frequently documented, but the extent to which it occurs globally is still unknown. 22 In some instances, breaches of the health rights of athletes occur with the knowledge or tacit consent of the State, especially in the competitive context. However, such violations of athletes’ human rights are rarely addressed in a systematic manner, probably because of the positive image of sports.23 23. Many rights violations stem from a “winning at all costs” mentality that is tolerated or actively encouraged by States, particularly in competitive sporting contexts. A certain level of “healthy” sporting competition can foster participation, encourage individuals to strive for excellence, empower women and girls, and in many instances, increase individual enjoyment. However, appropriate safeguards should be implemented to ensure the protection of all amateur and professional athletes. As a broad, overarching principle, States should create an inclusive sporting environment wherein an optimal level of competitiveness is reached, and those participating in sports are protected from the harmful effects of overly competitive environments. 24. States should provide mechanisms through which normative review and legal enforcement, as pertains to alleged health rights violations, can occur. There should be no barrier to the investigation and prosecution of such incidents, as competitive and amateur sports are as subject to international human rights law as any other activity undertaken within a State’s jurisdiction. As an interim option or an alternative, it may be necessary or 21 22 23 See General Assembly resolution 58/5. UNICEF, Protecting Children from Violence in Sport. Paulo David, Human Rights in Youth Sport (London, Routledge, 2005). 7