Human Rights: Violence against women and girls in sports becoming systematic

Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls Reem Alsalem said, “Violence against women and girls in sport is a serious, systemic and systematic human rights issue that demands immediate attention at all levels.”

Addressing reporters today (8 Oct) on Violence against Women and Girls in sport, Alsalem explored the forms, causes and consequences of violence against women and girls in sports, including sexual violence, coercion, gender pay gap, gender stereotypes, patriarchal structures, abusive coaches, and the general absence of robust policies and mechanisms to address abuses and protect victims.

She said, “Women and girls in sport face multiple forms of violence - and I outlined them in the report - economic forms of violence, physical, psychological, coercive control, online violence and also for children, girls, they face neglect, particularly in some sports such as gymnastics.”

She also said, “The report also describes the most common perpetrators of violence and their accomplices, which include state and non-state actors. So, I speak about coaches, professional colleagues, family members, managers, spectators, policy makers. And I assert within that conversation that states can also be considered complicit when they fail to prevent, prosecute and sanction acts of violence against women and girls in sport.”

She continued, “Their ability to play sports in condition of safety, dignity and fairness has been further eroded by the intrusion of males who identify as female in female only sports categories and spaces.”

She concluded, “Impunity fosters the culture of silence and injustice, and that is brought about in part by the autonomous regulatory frameworks of sports organizations that we have, which non sufficiently incorporated human rights lens or framework in the work, and they tend to prioritize reputation and winning over justice and accountability to victims.”

The Special Rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council are independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective.