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Sport and human rights

Sport and human rights

Sport has the power to bring communities together, and promote health, hard work and equality.
Yet it can also be where LGBTI people feel excluded, shamed and bullied, and act as a microcosm of the more conservative and bigoted parts of our societies, excluding our communities from accessing the many benefits of sport, either as spectators or participants.

ILGA World works with partner organisations to strategise on addressing sport and human rights at the UN, lend our voice to collective action, and provide LGBTI expert input from our diverse membership to sports federations and international bodies.

(photo by Steven Lelham on Unsplash)

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The Olympic flag. The ILGA World logo sits at the top right of the image

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ILGA World’s Engagement

How ILGA World works on sport and human rights

In 2018, ILGA World joined the Centre for Sport and Human Rights as an Advisory Council member, and is the first LGBTI organisation to work with the Centre to guide its work towards a world of sport that fully respects human rights through collective action.

In 2019, we joined the Sport and Rights Alliance, a global coalition of leading NGOs and trade unions working together to embed human rights and anti-corruption across world sport and to promote the rights and well-being of those most affected by human rights risks associated with the delivery of sport.

We work with partner organisations to strategise on addressing sport and human rights at the UN, lend our voice to collective action, and provide LGBTI expert input from our diverse membership to sports federations and international bodies.