A/HRC/27/58 (b) Media coverage for women’s sport is estimated at only 5 per cent. Teenage athletes therefore lack sufficient female role models for fair sports behaviour; (c) The wage gaps related to gender inequality in sports; (d) The underrepresentation of women in leadership and management positions in sports bodies.101 81. Factors such as illegal migration and the financial crisis, may in turn create racist ideas within society, which may thereafter be transferred to sport. Other obstacles refer to threats of sexual harassment and abuse in sport, and the poor representation of women in decision-making position.102 There are of course certain problems that might impede sport from promoting human rights. Some such obstacles include extreme nationalist sentiment, which might impinge on others’ rights and generate violence between athletes and fans, thereby increasing hatred among all parties, and eroding the rights of many. It is important to encourage the culture of friendship and tolerance, a culture which could flourish if people did not have prejudices about each other. 82. In recent decades, it has been shown that, far from being a competitive activity, sport is a multidimensional tool that substantially promotes quality of life and indirectly serves to bring nations together. 83. The main challenges that the international community faces as regards promotion of human rights through sport and the Olympic ideal are the inclusion of professional athletes in the Olympic games, the trading of athletes, the rapid introduction of technology in developing countries (and the consequent increase of the cost of sports activities) and the obligation to recruit and pay sponsors in order to take part in high-level sport events. These practices have deeply impacted the international sport situation, especially in the developing countries.103 One of the main challenges countries face in the promotion of human rights through sport is in supporting athletes without considering them as commodities, as is the case in the World Cup, where some games have allegedly been rigged.104 The rights of athletes are sometimes at stake due to the exploitation faced by others. In many regions in the world, especially in Europe and the Middle East, athletes are treated like goods when they are sold from one club to another; although the word “sell” does not appear in the deals, the conditions involved treating players like goods. Moreover, the deals struck with clubs are mostly arranged by third parties who work as middlemen. In certain instances, while the negotiations for deals are in progress, the athletes may become the victims of human traffickers. 84. Another concern relates to the lack of a human rights code of conduct. For instance, in Asia, the largest and important Asian sport confederation is the Asian Football Confederation, which was established in 1954 in the Philippines and whose headquarters are currently located in Malaysia. It is one of the six confederations which make up FIFA. The current President of the Confederation is Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa, a Bahraini. The Confederation has not been involved in any serious human rights violations or abuses in the past that have been reported; however there have been a few accusations which cannot be substantiated. With the advancement of issues of a human rights nature in sport, it is important that there should be a human rights code of conduct for all affiliated members of the Confederation, as a preventive measure for any future human rights 101 102 103 104 Response of Spain. Response of Cyprus. Response of Cuba. Response of the Nicaraguan national human rights institution, the Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos de la República de Nicaragua (PDDH). 19