Campaigns
©TDH/Pim Ras
CHILDREN WIN CAMPAIGN
Making sure major sporting events do not violate child rights
The Children Win campaign gave a voice to children whose rights were jeopardised by mega sporting events in 2016, such as by enabling children in Rio to show how the Olympic Games had caused them to suffer, and documenting human and child rights violations committed around such competitions.
Last year also saw huge strides made by the Children Win campaign in triggering change within large sports governing bodies. Encouraging steps were taken by FIFA, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and UEFA to ensure any mega sporting events they organise fully respect human and child rights in future.
THESE STEPS INCLUDE:
- The formation of the FIFA Independent Human Rights Advisory Board – with Terre des Hommes being represented on the panel.
- The IOC including a provision on the respect of human rights in the contract to host the 2024 Olympic Games.
- UEFA including human rights and anti-corruption provisions in the bidding documents for Euro 2024.
The Children Win campaign will now strive to ensure these are only the first moves from sports governing bodies to guarantee the respect of human and child rights before, during and after mega sporting events.
SHINING A LIGHT ON CHILD RIGHTS ABUSES DURING RIO 2016
The Children Win campaign helped to put the concerns of ordinary children, families and youth workers about the preparation, organisation and legacy of the Rio 2016 Olympics onto the international agenda.
The abuse of children living on the streets, the brutal repression of adolescent protesters by police in Brazil, and the grievances of some of the 22,000 families evicted to make way for the World Cup and the Olympics were all brought into sharp focus by Children Win. This empowered local children and child rights activists to express their concerns on the global stage.
The campaign’s Breaking Records briefing detailed numerous rights violations against children and young people before and during the Olympic Games. These included how authorities were detaining young people for minor crimes, causing juvenile detention centres to become dangerously overpopulated. Our briefing showed how incarcerations in these centres rose by nearly 50 percent in the run up to the Games due to a street child ‘clean up’ operation.
The Children Win campaign shone a light on these rights violations, and allowed those forced to suffer through them to tell their stories to the world and demand that their rights be fully respected.
