Requested by the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) on the occasion of the workshop “Large Sporting Events: Human Rights as a Game Changer?”, a study of the same name was recently published by the European Parliament. At the workshop, which already took place on 25 May, the then acting EOC President Niels Nygaard represented the Olympic Movement. We reported in the Monthly Report May.

In the accompanying study, the main question raised is the following one: ‘How does the current legal framework regarding the promotion of human rights and the prevention of human rights abuses at Mega-Sporting Events (MSEs) fall short and how can it be improved?’. In order for regulations to fill gaps in obligations and responsibilities to prevent human rights abuses and promote human rights in the context of MSEs, six recommendations to the EU are made to develop adequate contractual obligations in hosting agreements together with sufficient requirements and evaluation criteria in bidding.

Furthermore, as part of the study, the briefing ‘Sport, sustainability and human rights: an integrated approach’, identifies the major risks associated with the life cycle of large sporting events, the rights holder groups which would benefit the most from an integration of human rights instruments and SDGs, the relevant actors in the field of Sustainable Development Goals, sport events and human rights, and to finish with, it issues three recommendations made to the EU institutions:

• The European Commission should encourage sport governing bodies to clarify their approach to human rights.
• The European Parliament should initiate a task force with representatives from the sector.
• Preferential trade agreements should be developed with third countries implementing human rights measures.

The study concludes by a summary of interventions during the workshop organised by the Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI), to which Niels Nygaard, at the time President of the EOC, participated.