A/HRC/40/51 33. The Safeguards aim to create a safe sporting environment for children wherever they participate and at whatever level; provide a benchmark to assist sports providers and funders to make informed decisions; promote good practice and challenge practice that is harmful to children; and provide clarity on safeguarding children to all involved in sports. 34. Importantly, the Safeguards should be implemented and evaluated with the participation of children at the institutional level of the sports organizations. This unique approach is to be encouraged, as it ensures meaningful participation of the right holders concerned by this issue. 35. A self-audit tool has been developed to monitor the impact of the Safeguards. A key finding has been that sports organizations understand the need for child-safeguarding measures and the value of engaging in the process, despite an initial opposition to the need for such a project. In addition, the individual awareness of the importance of safeguarding has increased and children have been given meaningful opportunities for participation. 3. Standards, regulations, policies and codes of conducts 36. As the lead United Nations agency on physical education and sport, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has played a key role in setting standards regarding sports. For example, the International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport establishes in article 9 the need for safety and the management of risk. It specifically calls for the removal of practices that harm participants, such as sexual exploitation. 37. Furthermore, under the UNESCO Quality Physical Education Policy Guidelines, teachers should be expected to engage in regular child protection training and be versed in abuse reporting procedures. 38. The Japan Committee for UNICEF has recently developed the Children’s Rights in Sport Principles. They comprise 10 principles, one of which deals with the need to protect children from the risks of sports. An overarching message is the need to provide meaningful participation opportunities for children in the implementation of the Principles. 39. FIFA is one of the major international sporting institutions to have recently developed a human rights policy, in addition to including the need to respect human rights in its statutes (art. 3). Launched in 2017, the policy commits FIFA to respect human rights in accordance with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and sets specific responsibilities regarding labour rights and players’ rights. The policy acknowledges that the strong desire to become a professional footballer “can create fertile ground for adverse human rights impacts, in particular with regard to trafficking and other issues relating to minors”.11 Additionally, FIFA commits to work constructively with an independent, expert Human Rights Advisory Board. This board issues recommendations to the organization regarding the level of implementation of its commitments and has contributed to the inclusion of human rights requirements in the bidding and host selection for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 40. In addition to its human rights policy, FIFA has banned the international transfer of players under 18 years old, with only three possible exceptions 12 (article 19 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players), and requires the registration of minors playing at academies, in order to protect them from exploitation and trafficking. In addition, the 2015 Regulations on Working with Intermediaries specifically banned the payment of intermediaries for services when the subject of the negotiation is a minor (art. 7). 41. The Commonwealth Games Federation has similarly championed human rights and child rights and adopted a human rights policy statement that was approved by its board in October 2017. It includes a pledge to implement the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It also commits the Federation to respect international human rights treaties, 11 12 6 FIFA’s Human Rights Policy, May 2017 edition, p. 7. The three exceptions are: the player’s parents move to the country in which the new club is located for reasons not linked to football; the transfer takes place within the territory of the European Union or the European Economic Area and the player is aged between 16 and 18; or the player lives no further than 50 km from a national border and the club with which the player wishes to be registered in the neighbouring association is also within 50 km of that border.