The Centre for Sports and Human rights was launched on Tuesday the 26 of June.
The goal of the new centre is to foster respect for human rights in relation to big sports events.
“Today we begin a new chapter in making human rights central to the world of sport at every level,” said Mary Robinson, founding chair of the Institute for Human Rights and Business at the launch of the centre in Geneva on Tuesday the 26 of June.
The centre is a result of the work within the Mega-Sporting Events Platform for Human Rights which the BWI have been participating in as part of a broad coalition of sports bodies, other trade unions, hosts, sponsors, human rights organizations and governments.
"To ensure that human rights are protected we must have a better dialogue between stakeholders. This new centre is an important step for the rights of workers in mega
The Institute of Human Rights and Business (IHRB) will administer the centre, which will be based in Geneva, Switzerland but operate globally.
“We all share a duty to ensure that the freedom of sports is not built on the unfreedom of others,” said Guy Ryder, director-general of the International Labour Organisation ILO, who spoke at the opening of the centre. He talked about the importance of dialogue between trade unions, sports bodies and other actors – for which the new centre will be a platform.