Who We Are

A Global Coalition of Advocates for the Power and Potential of Sport

The Sport & Rights Alliance is an unprecedented global coalition of leading NGOs and trade unions working together to embed human rights and anti-corruption across world sport. 

Founded in early 2015, we exist to promote the rights and well-being of those most affected by the negative impacts of sport. We use our collective influence to pressure global sports bodies to ensure their decision-making and operations respect international standards for human rights, labour rights, and anti-corruption, in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

The SRA Team

Andrea Florence, Director

An experienced human rights lawyer, feminist activist and campaigner, Andrea has spent over a decade fostering people-led social movements to drive systemic change. Andrea has a long track-record building networks, developing and implementing advocacy and campaigning strategies, supporting internal organizational capacity, as well programming philanthropic funding.

Previously, she has worked as Campaigns Coordinator at Amnesty International Brazil and led the Children Win campaign at Terre des Hommes. Passionate about using creative ways to advance human rights, Andrea has coordinated a range of different “artivism” projects, including hope-based videos for global campaigns, direct action with renowned artists and musicians as well as unbranded communication.

Andrea received her Law Degree from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo and is a certified lawyer in São Paulo (Brazil). She holds a Master in International Law by the Graduate Institute in Geneva, a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Human Rights by the University of Zurich and a Masters specialization at Université Paris I-Sorbonne. Andrea speaks Portuguese, English, French, Spanish and German.

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Joanna Maranhão, Network Coordinator

Joanna Maranhão is a Brazilian Olympian, survivor, advocate and researcher. She holds a Master of Sports Ethics and Integrity from the University of Leuven in Belgium, and a Bachelor in Physical Education from Faculdade Maurício de Nassau in Brazil. As a professional swimmer, Joanna specialized in individual medley and distance events, participating in four Olympic Games and winning eight medals at the Pan American Games.

A survivor of sexual abuse in sport, Joanna is now an advocate for and researcher on athlete safeguarding, having just successfully defended her thesis on the prevalence of interpersonal violence among elite athletes in Brazil. Previously, Joanna led the campaign to expand Brazil’s statutes of limitation to allow survivors of child sexual abuse more time to report and seek justice, succeeding in establishing a new law, which bears her name (Law Joanna Maranhão).

Currently, Joanna leads the Sport & Rights Alliance’s scoping project for a Global Survivors Network — consulting athletes across the globe with lived experience of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse to assess their interest and need for an international network to facilitate greater exchange, advocacy and support for athlete survivors.

Rachel Causey, Communications Coordinator

Passionate about ethical storytelling and the power of language, Rachel is a skilled writer and marketing strategist with over six years of experience in business-to-business and non-profit communications.

Before coming to the Sport & Rights Alliance, Rachel worked as a Strategy & Insights Lead at The Starr Conspiracy, a creative marketing agency where she led a wide variety of messaging, writing, and research projects for clients in the human resources and workplace technology industry.

Rachel also has previous experience working in communications for non-governmental organizations, most notably for International Justice Mission (IJM) in Manila, Philippines, and World Relief Fort Worth. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Texas Christian University (TCU) and a Master of International Affairs in human rights policy and communications at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).

Victoria Andreoli, Graphic Designer

Victoria is a graphic designer and illustrator, based in São Paulo, Brazil. Her work is multidisciplinary, ranging from digital design, branding, and editorial. She has 10 years of broad experience in the area of consumer behavior and trends research, working along with agencies and major brands from around the world.

As an independent designer, Victoria has had the opportunity to work with many different projects — expanding the scope of design beyond aesthetics and bringing a strategic and sensible vision to help brands find their place in the market.

In addition to the corporate area, Victoria has worked with artists and events as an art director, set designer, and visual artist. Victoria holds a degree in Industrial Design from Mackenzie University São Paulo.

Core Partners

Our Core Partners group consists of nine organizations committed to the fight for human rights, child wellbeing and transparency in sport. Representatives from each of these partners form the operational leadership of the SRA and are responsible for implementing our strategy.

Amnesty International

Amnesty leverages the public interest in sport to broaden public awareness and support for their human rights causes, and highlights the human rights responsibilities of sporting bodies under the UNGPs. Amnesty has witnessed the increased in human rights violations and abuses when mega sporting events are organized, including the suppression of freedom of expression, forcible evictions and the exploitation of migrant workers, as well as attempts by states to “sportswash” their human rights records. Amnesty also recognizes sport can be a powerful force for change.

The Army of Survivors

The Army of Survivors is a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring awareness, accountability and transparency to sexual violence against athletes. Created by a group of more than 40 athlete survivors of sexual violence, The Army of Survivors is the only national organization advocating for and supporting child athlete survivors of sexual violence through resources, advocacy and education. 

Committee to Protect Journalists

CPJ leverages public interest in sport to draw attention to press freedom violations around sports and mega sporting events, including cases where journalists are censored or prevented from reporting important stories about these events, and in the countries hosting them. Beyond censorship of individual journalists, preventing critical coverage denies the public access to vitally important information. In addition, sporting events provide a rare opportunity to bring international pressure on behalf of journalists in countries that may have poor records of supporting press freedom or where the governments have not been responding to other forms of advocacy. 

Football Supporters Europe

FSE has drawn attention to discrimination, racist abuse, policing, police violence and discrimination against fans and supporters with disabilities. A key area of focus for FSE is to establish remedy for fans affected by sexual and gender-based violence and discrimination in football. Inclusion of human rights in Article 3 in the FIFA statutes represented a key win, meaning that FSE can now hold FIFA accountable for the human rights of fans as well.

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (HRW) conducts on-the-ground research in more than 100 countries, documenting abuses of human rights in sport for more than two decades. Using research and survivor testimony, HRW informs, advocates and pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and sport governing bodies such as the IOC and FIFA to adopt, entrench and implement international human rights. Recent reports document worker deaths and wage-cheating in stadium construction, anti-LGBT discrimination in sport, violations of gender equality and press freedom, crimes against humanity by Olympic hosts, corporal punishment of child athletes in training, and sexual abuse of women and girls in football federations.

ILGA World

ILGA World has identified sport as a place where people feel excluded, shamed and bullied. Sports is also a strategic opportunity to promote change in very conservative and closed countries. For ILGA, sports acts as a microcosm of the more conservative and bigoted part of societies, excluding ILGA communities from accessing the may benefits of sport, either as spectators or participants in terms of finding respect.

International Trade Union Confederation

The ITUC has long sought to change the rules of the global economy. Sport has played a key role to drive home its message from exposing corrupt governance, abuses in sports supply chains, labour and child rights violations in nations hosting mega sporting events, exploitation of migrant construction workers to child labour. For the ITUC, Qatar was a breakthrough and an example of what can be achieved in the future.

Transparency International

TI has exposed the corruption in sport and the management malpractices that have characterized sports administration. Its report on Global Corruption in Sport (2016) confirmed that ordinary people are losing faith in those who run sport. From poor governance and match fixing to bribery, money laundering, and “sextortion” (including of minors), the many faces of corruption threaten the values of sport that attract billions of people to watch and engage in sport. Sports organisations must be open about how they operate, the money they make, and how they spend it.

World Players Association

World Players is the leading voice of organised players in the governance of world sport. It brings together 85,000 players across professional sport through more than 100 players associations in over 60 countries. World Players affiliates have an unparalleled track record of embedding the human rights of players in sports through collective bargaining and ensuring access to effective remedy for players. World Players is committed to the implementation of the Universal Declaration of Player Rights (UDPR) and to ensure child athletes rights are promoted, respected and protected through Project CARE.

Strategic Partners

Our strategic partners assist with campaigns and initiatives on specific topics, regions or events and are part of the wider group of the sport and rights movement.