FSE & CSHR Launch Fans’ Human Rights Guide

Like all people associated with sport, the human rights of fans should be upheld, and governments and institutions across the sports ecosystem, such as event organising committees, have responsibilities to protect and respect them.

Promoting human rights is a job for everyone, and fans themselves also have responsibilities. Fans have a strong platform to contribute to sport being a safe place and force for good and should know their rights. Fans also play a critical role in raising expectations across sport to ensure sporting events are welcoming and inclusive, and avoid causing harm to workers, residents, players, or others in and around an event.

The Fans’ Human Rights Guide, developed by Football Supporters Europe (FSE) and the Centre for Sport and Human Rights (CSHR), has been produced to raise awareness of some of the human rights aspects connected with attending an international sporting event from a fan perspective. The intent of this document, which builds on the guide Games Time – Planning and Acting to Respect Human Rights in Mega-Sporting Events, is to contribute to actions that ensure both fans and organisers are prepared for a safe and positive experience that upholds personal dignity and promotes once in a life-time experiences that sport can offer.

This is an initial version to be further developed in consultation with fans’ groups and other stakeholders, and will be revised based fans’ experiences at future sporting events.

Please contact the CSHR if you have any accessibility issues and require a plain text version of the guide.

Related news

The Olympic flag is displayed at the entrance of the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, March 23, 2020. © 2020 Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP

Olympics: Presidential Candidates Need to Step Up on Rights

Lack of Priority for IOC Human Rights Policies Poses Risk to Athletes, Fans, Workers (Amsterdam, February 26, 2025) – Candidates for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) failed to adequately address human rights and good governance in documents outlining their proposed programs, in advance of March elections, the Sport & Rights Alliance said […]

READ MORE

Submission to UN Human Rights Report on Combating Discrimination and Violence Against Intersex Persons

Submission to UN Human Rights Report on Combating Discrimination and Violence Against Intersex Persons

Ensuring the Rights of Intersex Athletes to Safe, Inclusive Sports Environments The LGBTI community faces numerous, often unique challenges when it comes to their right to participate in sport. Discriminatory narratives, exclusionary policies, and pervasive online harassment are just a few of the significant obstacles that hinder their ability to engage and enjoy in sports […]

READ MORE

Related resources

Take Action: Join the #Hello Campaign

Take Action: Join the #Hello Campaign

Tell the IOC to Answer the Call For athletes facing abuse, a hotline is a lifeline. Athletes deserve a hotline that works. Our latest report shows once again that athletes facing abuse often have nowhere to turn – especially when the abusers are powerful sports officials who are well-connected with national governments. Join our campaign […]

READ MORE

Olympics: Overturn Athlete’s Disqualification for Speaking Out

Olympics: Overturn Athlete’s Disqualification for Speaking Out

Olympic Authorities Violated Manizha Talash’s Right to Free Expression (Nyon, August 16, 2024) – The disqualification of the Olympic breaking athlete Manizha Talash for promoting gender equality should be overturned and remedied, the Sport & Rights Alliance said today. Talash, an Afghan refugee breaker known as “b-girl Talash,” was disqualified from the Paris 2024 Olympics’ breaking competition […]

READ MORE

Join the Network

Sport has the potential to be a catalyst for human development, unity, and freedom, but too often it instead brings harm to its athletes, fans, and communities. We exist to uncover and rectify the many abuses that exist both in and around sport. We aim to transform sports into an authentic force for good.