May 1 – Following a special session organised by the Sports Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) at the Miami Dade College in Florida, USA, SIGA has launched an action plan against abuse, smuggling and trafficking of children and young people in sport.
The session gathered together a wide range of sport and government stakeholders including sports bodies, linguistic blocks, universities, NGOs, law enforcement agencies and social influencers.
CEO of SIGA, Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, said: “All children have the fundamental right to participate, enjoy and develop through sport in a safe and sound environment. They are not commodities. They are human beings, and must be regarded and treated as such. Time’s up for paedophiles, smugglers and traffickers! We won’t allow them to transform sport into an ugly business!”
SIGA’s action plan will include the development of:
- A comprehensive inventory and a comparative analysis on all existing regulatory frameworks, policies and best practice existing in this field, with the purpose of identifying commonalities, but also potential weaknesses and loopholes in the system;
- To carry out an inclusive dialogue and consultation process, involving all relevant authorities and stakeholders;
- To develop a set of guidelines, recommendations and universal standards on recruitment, training, education and protection of minors, applicable to all sports; and, last but not the least,
- To develop aglobal awareness campaign under the banner “It’s not okay” (#itsnotokay).
Shellie Pfohl, President & CEO of the U.S. Center for SafeSport, said: “Every child, every adult around the world has the right to participate in sports free from bullying, hazing and all forms of physical, emotional and sexual misconduct. It is time that we come together to champion respect and end abuse in sports.”
David Luna, President & CEO, Luna Global Networks and former Chairman OECD’s Task Force on Countering Illicit Trade, emphasised the need to urgently enforce accountability.
“We need to bring greater accountability at all levels of our communities including with sport associations and federations, leagues, and sports team owners to ensure a culture of lawfulness for a new generation and to protect our children from abuse and trafficking and safeguard sports against the taint of corruptive and criminal influences. More action is needed. To effectively counter human trafficking networks, holistic approaches are vital,” said Luna.
Protection of minors from organised criminal gangs is not just about human trafficking and exploitation and movement of talent within professional sports, but also stretches into the increasing number of instances of minors being entrapped by match-fixing gangs, often the same gangs.
Laila Mintas, Deputy President of Sportradar US said: “Almost all sports worldwide have been effected by match manipulations. No sport is immune against this global and cross border threat. We have seen match-fixers even approaching young players in youth tournaments across sports and jurisdictions. Especially young and not paid athletes are most vulnerable to get approached by criminals that are often linked to organised crime. Fixing games and placing bets on the manipulated outcomes of these games mostly in the unregulated betting markets is a lucrative business to these criminals. To protect athletes and sports officials is a crucial responsibility ideally driven by the sports organisations.”
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