Sports and Human Rights from an Ethical Perspective
Sports-associations (e. g. FIFA) engage in the fight against racism. Together with the UN, sports-associations (e. g. IOC) emphasize shared principles (justice, equality, and anti-discrimination). At the same time, athletes use the attention they receive for political activism, and sometimes they face criticism for politicizing sports. Furthermore, mega-sports-events can cause human rights violations, and other human rights challenges belong to sports itself, e.g., doping, child abuse. Therefore, this chapter will analyze the relation between sports and human rights and address the fundamental question if human rights are of relevance for sports. This question has not so far attracted as much of scientific attention as the analysis what sports does wrong and what could be done different. This chapter will discuss reasons justifying a human rights-engagement by sports and reasons for a human rights-abstinence by sports – concluding with a justification that human rights are relevant in different dimensions for sports.