Sport & Rights Alliance

✊ “Survivor engagement is an empirical and fundamental part of safe sport.”

@jujuca1987.bsky.social, SRA Network Coordinator, at the United Globally for Athlete Safety symposium during #MilanoCortina2026.

This #InternationalWomensDay, we call for sporting systems that include, value, protect and celebrate women and girls in all their diversity.

Join us. Together, we can build a better world of sport for all women and girls. 💜

With the 2027 Women’s World Cup approaching, there is a critical opportunity to establish robust, survivor-centered safeguarding measures that prevent harm and ensure accountability. The world will be watching — and silence is no longer an option. ✊

🔗 sportandrightsalliance.org/failures-in-...

And most recently, the celebrated return of players with criminal convictions to professional football raises urgent concerns about the culture and safety of Brazilian sport.

🔗 Read more: sportandrightsalliance.org/failures-in-...

The effects of a previous ban on women’s football, lifted in 1979, also continue to persist in underfunded women’s leagues, unequal facilities, pay disparity, and ongoing harassment and abuse.

🔗 Learn more: sportandrightsalliance.org/failures-in-...

Repeated scandals in Brazil’s academy system, from the 2019 fire that killed ten teenage players at Flamengo’s training center to sexual abuse cases with little accountability, have exposed serious failures to protect young athletes.

🔗 Read more: sportandrightsalliance.org/failures-in-...

As Brazil prepares to host the 2027 FIFA #WomensWorldCup, the country is overshadowed by persistent cases of abuse, misogyny, lack of accountability and violence in and around the “beautiful game.” ⚽

🔗 Learn more: sportandrightsalliance.org/failures-in-...

This #InternationalWomensDay, renewed attention must be paid to the risks women and children still face in sport.

🔗 Read our full dispatch: sportandrightsalliance.org/failures-in-...

Human rights is a team sport! Grace McKenzie, member of the Athletes Network Advisory Council, spoke on @futureoffs.bsky.social about the lessons from team sports and how they connect to the fight for trans inclusion.

🔗 Watch the full episode: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgtc...

Centering athlete voices is essential to advancing human rights in and through sport. ✊

🌈 We are honored that our campaign, developed in partnership with ILGA World and celebrating #LGBTI+ athletes at the #WinterOlympics 2026, was highlighted during the #PrideHouse event.

The event created space to reflect and discuss how sport governance can better uphold dignity, participation, and equality at all levels of play.

🎉 On 21 February, @ilgaworld.bsky.social & #CompeteProud hosted “When Everyone Can Compete” at the Pride House in Milan, bringing together civil society, advocates, and athlete voices to discuss inclusion in sport with a focus on trans, gender-diverse, and intersex people.

✊ The #SRA supports rights-based, evidence-informed and inclusive sport governance. We stand with the United Nations in defending human rights, dignity, fairness and non-discrimination in sport.
🔗 Read our letter to the IOC:
sportandrightsalliance.org/olympics-uph...

The UN call on States, #IOC & international federations to refrain from blanket bans or mandatory genetic sex testing, and to ensure eligibility rules are transparent, participatory and regularly reviewed in line with evolving evidence and human rights standards.
🔗 www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...

They also warned that opaque processes, including advisory groups whose composition and mandate are not publicly disclosed, and limited stakeholder engagement risk undermining legitimacy and eroding trust.
🔗 Learn more: www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...

UN experts raise concerns over mandatory genetic sex testing, rigid biological criteria and opaque eligibility rules in sport. They warn such measures may undermine privacy, dignity and equality.
🔗 Learn more: www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...

📣 UN human rights experts issued a statement addressing recent eligibility rules in international sport. It was prepared by mandate holders on sexual orientation and gender identity, cultural rights, health, and discrimination against women and girls.
🔗 Read more: www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...

Given the continued prevalence of discrimination in #football, FIFA should be setting an example, not avoiding its responsibilities.
🔗 Learn more: www.hrw.org/news/2026/02...

This comes after #FIFA canceled its planned anti-racism & anti-discrimination campaign at the 2025 Club World Cup in the US — despite its responsibility, under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights, to tackle human rights risks.
🔗 Learn more: www.hrw.org/news/2025/07...

In the UK, the Football Association charged Cardiff City over homophobic chants and sanctioned Reading’s kitman for homophobic comments toward a referee. ⚽
🔗 www.hrw.org/news/2026/02...

During a #UEFA Champions League match, Real Madrid’s Vini Jr reported that Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni directed a racial slur toward him, later allegedly claiming he used a homophobic slur instead.
🔗 Read more: www.hrw.org/news/2026/02...

📣 A new @hrw.org dispatch warns that, just months before the 2026 FIFA #WorldCup kicks off, football is once again rocked by cases of discrimination both off and on the pitch.
🔗 Read the full dispatch: www.hrw.org/news/2026/02...

🚨 Join us for our next #AthletesNetwork workshop to explore the rise of national and sport-specific safe sport entities, examining recent reforms and the challenges shaping stronger mechanisms to address abuse in sport.

Register here 👇 us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

The closing of #MilanoCortina2026 leaves a clear message: human rights are not external to sport. Athletes used their platforms to challenge systems, lift up communities, and push institutions to do better.

From challenging fossil fuel sponsorships to defending the right to free speech, from expanding Olympic equality to redefining what representation looks like, their voices resonated far beyond the podium. ✊

#MilanoCortina2026 #AthleteVoice

Across disciplines, many competitors stood out not only for their performances, but for how they leveraged their platforms as a force for human rights, inclusion, and structural change.

❄️ As the 2026 Milano-Cortina #WinterOlympics come to a close, this edition leaves behind more than medals. Over the past weeks, athletes have used one of the world’s biggest sporting stages to raise urgent questions about climate responsibility, freedom of expression, equality, and representation.

🚨 Content warning | Iranian authorities must immediately halt any plans to execute 18-year-old wrestling champion Saleh Mohammadi, who has been sentenced to public execution in Qom in relation to the January 2026 nationwide protests.
🔗 Learn more: www.amnesty.org.uk/latest/iran-...

🚨 Today Infantino attended Trump’s Board of Peace meeting and pledged #FIFA contributions of $65 million for football in Gaza.

Read more: www.hrw.org/news/2026/01...