Human rights in the Olympic Movement: The application of international and European standards to the lex sportiva (original) (raw)

2022, Netherland Quarterly of Human Rights

The promotion of the Olympic ideals is strongly correlated with the effective protection of human rights in the sporting context. However, countless practical examples of violations of athletes’ human rights have shown how the link between sport and human rights is continuously placed under strong pressure. Taking into consideration the thesis according to which human rights are an indirect legal source of the lex sportiva, this study analyses the gaps in the protection of the fundamental rights of athletes. By verifying the potential effects on the sporting juridical bodies’ competences and on the effective implications in sporting affairs for the European Court of Human Rights, the hypothesis of an emerging incorporation of human rights in sports legal orders will also be investigated. At the end of these pages, by identifying the limits and perspectives of the judicial protection of athletes’ human rights, we should also be able to evaluate if, and to what extent, a reform of sport justice bodies is urgently needed in order to guarantee the function of sport as an instrument of peace and sustainable development, vehicle of rights, and source of social inclusion.

Amateur sport and Union citizenship in the Biffi case: towards a European sporting citizenship

Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 2020

This essay focuses on the relation between amateur sport and Union citizenship, analysing the recent Biffi ruling of the European Court of Justice. It examines the opinion of the Advocate General and the Judgment of the ECJ, starting from the established case-law according to which sport is subject to EU law insofar as it constitutes an economic activity. Taking into account the possible application of the Treaty in light of the indirect impact on economic activities of the amateur athlete, the study analyses the legal implications of Article 165 TFUE considering the social function of sport. Finally, the paper illustrates to what extent the Biffi case represents a simple clarification of the existing legal relationship, a coherent case-law development, or another seismic ECJ ruling on sport.

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Union Water Law in Circular Economy: Ultra Vires Actions in Environmental Sector, or when Union Ambition Far Exceed its Abilities

Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 2022

Water management has an important role to play in the circular economy transition, through the water treatment and reuse. Its optimal and coherent regulation is also of vital common interest, since water knows no borders or lines artificially set out by the States and the dramatic overconsumption and pollution of freshwater are threatening irreparable damage to the world’s ecosystems. However, States are reluctant to common regulations, which would have important economic impacts. International and regional organizations face with the fundamental principle of permanent sovereignty of States over natural resources. By analysing the European environmental competence, this study examines the role of Union water law in green economic transition. By investigating the interdependent relationships between the several elements of the water management, the essay suggests that territory use and economic town and country planning would be drawn into the scope of Treaties because of the integrated nature of water services. The case of water reuse illustrates limits and perspectives of the European objective to promote rational utilization of natural resources and combat climate change, introducing the idea according to which freshwater is a European res communis on which the sovereign right of European Union Member States over their own natural resources could be lawfully limited.

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Understanding dual career views of European university athletes: The more than gold project focus groups

PLOS ONE, 2022

Previous studies have found that student-athletes (S-As) have difficulties in achieving dual career (DC) success. However, no studies have analysed the opinion of the S-As on the functioning of DC with a qualitative methodology. The aim of the present work was to collect the opinions of elite university S-As in relation to DC policy adopted by their academic institutions in different European countries. In total, 77 athletes (F = 35, M = 42; age range: 20–25 years) participated in 15 national face-to-face focus groups in five different countries, to discuss aspects that higher education institutes should implement in relation to: 1) the athletes’ needs; 2) assistance/tutorship: 2) curricula requirements; 3) financial support; 4) logistic support; 5) social support; and 6) dual career policies. Fifty of the athletes competed in individual sports and twenty-seven team sports. Of them, 57 was enrolled at undergraduate, 17 was enrolled in a master and 3 in a PhD. The athletes were prese...

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Transnational Sports Law

ASSER International Sports Law Series, 2012

... Clarendon Press, Oxford Nafziger J (2004a) International sports law, 2nd edn.Transnational Publ Dobbs Ferry, New Yorks Nafziger JAR (2004b) Lex sportiva, ISLJ Parrish R (2003) Sports law and policy in the european union. ...

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UEFA and Football Governance : A New Model

International Sports Law Journal, 2004

This paper (written in 2003) was one of the first studies to critically look at the governance relationships in European football. We analysed the way a sport governing body responds to the pressures of a lobby group through the example of UEFA and G-14 and proposes a recommendation for the better cooperate and governance of European football. Based on stakeholder analysis – national associations, national leagues, the whole spectrum of clubs, G-14 and UEFA - we identified the divergent perspectives in areas such as competition, revenue sharing or representation and compare different cases of stakeholder management across several sports. At the time in 2003, G-14 and UEFA had tried to promote their own interests, but in the end alienating their counterparts and failing to conclude a satisfactory compromise. We argued that the situation would likely to recur over and over within the current framework of European football since clubs which are the fundamental cells of European football, did not have any executive power within UEFA’s decision-taking scheme although they generate most of UEFA’s income every year. Based on this paradox, we elaborated a new model of organisation for European football with a particular focus on the way professional football – at club and national level – is managed within UEFA. The model we presented here is not only the fruit of our analysis of European football’s current difficulties but also an emanation of our understanding of the methods of conflict resolution that were applied in other sports such as cycling that showed to be quite successful. The success of this model depends on a proactive attitude from the governing bodies and positive feedback from the other stakeholders. Thus, no matter how successful the new organisational model could be, all stakeholders need first to perceive the utility of implementing such a reform and agree on the steps to be taken toward its implementation.

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The Supervisory Role of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Regulating the International Sport System

The international sport system exists and operates as a self-regulating private legal order that is governed by international non-governmental organizations, such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and international sport federations (IFs). Nation states have deferred to this regulatory autonomy by either refraining from enacting legislation governing national sport bodies, or adopting legislation that recognizes the near exclusive authority of the IOC and IFs over national sport organizations and national Olympic committees. Similarly, with respect to dispute resolution, the emergence of private sports arbitration tribunals, both at the national and international level, has substantially reduced the ability of national courts to intervene into sporting disputes. The effect of these developments has been to shield the autonomy of the international sport system from regulation by national legal systems. From a national law perspective, this self-regulation has significant implications when the rules and regulations of international sport bodies contravene fundamental principles of equity and fairness, typically enshrined in and protected by domestic human rights law. This concern was realized in the recent case of Sagen v. Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, wherein several female ski jumpers brought a constitutional challenge against the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee for implementing the IOC’s decision not to include women’s ski jumping in the 2010 Olympic Programme. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether current systems of regulation within the sport system, specifically, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the IOC Ethics Commission, are able to provide the necessary oversight over international sport bodies that national legal systems are often unable to provide. It is argued that CAS, as the more suitable regulator, has both the authority and an obligation to exercise a greater supervisory role over the international sport system.

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