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Version: 1.4 Date: Tuesday 13 August 2019 11th Executive Committee meeting Thursday 6 June and Thursday 5 September 2019 By video and teleconference World Players Association | UNI Global Union | 8-10 Avenue Reverdil | 1260 Nyon | Switzerland Tel: +41 22 365 2100 | Fax: +41 22 365 2121 | www.uniglobalunion.org | www.worldplayers.co 1/126 2/126 The Platform envisages a future world of sport that is very different to the one that exists today. It articulates the rationale for that vision and the pathway to its attainment. As its centrepiece, the Platform commits to ensuring that the human rights of everyone involved in the delivery of sport are protected, respected and upheld. It acknowledges that players are people first, and athletes second, and commits to maximising the personal development of players as well as their sporting careers. This is essential if players are to contribute not only to their sports, but to society at large. The future world of sport will therefore be underpinned by adherence to universal principles and international law. Fundamental player rights will be embedded in sport at the global level. International sporting bodies will respect human rights and join forces with sport’s many global stakeholders – including the United Nations and its agencies, governments, brands, broadcasters, NGOs, the trade union movement and, of course, the World Players Association (World Players) – to embed the human rights of all in global sport. The Platform calls for substantive, cultural and institutional change to the governance of global sport. Without it, adverse human and player rights impacts will not be prevented when they should, players will suffer avoidable harm, and be denied the opportunity to realise their potential. For this work to be completed, athlete activism will be essential. If global sport is to be a true force for good and celebrate humanity throughout the world, it must first protect, respect and uphold the human rights of those who make it possible. Since the ‘Nyon Declaration’ of November 2011, the Platform now consists of 16 policies, statements and resolutions, including three ‘anchor policies’: ★ The World Player Rights Policy;1 ★ The World Player Development, Wellbeing, Transition and Retirement Standard;2 and ★ The Universal Declaration of Player Rights.3 The Platform consolidates our important decisions and substantial policy work since our formal establishment only four years ago. At the same time, the Platform is a living document, and will evolve as the organised voice of the players is more meaningfully engaged and heeded in addressing the substantial challenges that global sport confronts. 3/126 The vision of World Players is: To champion the dignity of the player and the humanity of sport. As the leading voice of organised players in the governance of global sport, World Players has a three-part goal in the pursuit of this vision: ★ First, the human rights of everyone involved in the delivery of sport must be protected, respected and, where needed, upheld. ★ Second, the same must be true for the players. ★ Third, the impact of sport must be positive, including in sporting, economic, environmental and cultural terms.4 4/126 ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/126 Three overarching principles guide the work and decision-making of World Players. ★ All players are free to negotiate the terms upon which they are involved in sport, and to be represented by persons of their choosing in those negotiations ★ Developing the full potential of the players as outstanding people, professionals and citizens ★ Promoting and protecting the good name, image, reputation and performance of the players ★ Safeguarding long-term player health, safety, security and social wellbeing ★ Upholding the rights and responsibilities of the players of the world, including the application of international human rights and labour standards and the enforcement of the fundamental rights of players at work, which should prevail over any specific sports law or regulation. ★ Championing the practice and pursuit of sport as a human right ★ Sport protecting, respecting and upholding fundamental human rights ★ Sport working in partnership with the players to be a force for good ★ Promoting the highest standards of governance and accountability in sport ★ Protecting the integrity and good standing of sport from threats such as racism, discrimination, violence, anti-competitive behaviour, self-interest, corruption, match manipulation and doping. ★ Ensuring the voice of the players is heeded in the leadership of sport, especially through collective bargaining ★ Being a democratic player driven organisation that acts on the mandate of our affiliated player associations ★ Acting with unity and solidarity. Players who are members of a player association in one country or sport can rely on the support and solidarity of World Players and our affiliated player associations ★ Educating, engaging and empowering the players to work for the betterment of their profession, sport and humanity ★ Taking a knowledge and evidence-based approach ★ Taking a world perspective. 6/126 Athlete activism is essential to the advancement of this Platform. World Players, in fact, introduces a new level of athlete activism to global sport – what we call institutional athlete activism. Institutional athlete activism is anchored in the same powerful values system that has informed individual and collective activism but involves sharing that system of values across a multi- stakeholder platform of like-minded organisations, key stakeholders of global sport and the international human rights community. Its emergence lies in global sport’s failure to embed internationally recognised human rights into its governance framework, and the devastating human and athlete rights impacts that failure has caused or contributed to. The organisation of the Olympic Games and other mega-sporting events “have come under repeated scrutiny from human rights experts and campaigners over a gamut of concerns.”5 According to DeMaurice Smith, the Executive Director of the NFLPA and a member of the Executive Committee of the WPA, the athletes “need to take back the beauty and the humanity of sport...We need to move to a world where the integrity of sport does not tolerate migrant workers in Qatar who die building stadiums.”6 The theory of change driving institutional athlete activism is summarised on the following page. Two impactful endeavours of institutional athlete activism – the Sport and Rights Alliance (SRA) and the Centre for Sport and Human Rights (CSHR) – have been instrumental in seeing major SGBs make a series of important human rights commitments since 2016 and start to ensure that adverse human and athlete rights impacts are prevented and addressed by global sport. 7/126 8/126 9/126 The establishment of the World Players Association on 5 December 2014 was the culmination of the historic players’ summit held in Nyon, Switzerland on 14 and 15 November 2011, which brought together the global, regional and national player and athlete associations that now constitute the membership of the body. The summit closed with the following declaration: “We, the independent and democratically elected representatives of (thousands of) top athletes from around the world, today establish a federation of world player associations. We take this action based on certain core principles and to address a crisis in governance at world sport organizations that have removed the athlete from the center of sport. There is no sport without athletes. The societal role of sport is powerful, therefore it cannot be above the law and must respect principles of good governance. We declare that world sport organizations, and governments, must respect national and international law as well as the fundamental rights of athletes as citizens and workers, including the right to organize collectively in player associations and unions. Athletes and their collective representatives must play an integral role as stakeholders in all decision-making forums and structures that affect them. We stand for the equal treatment of all athletes regardless of their ethnic background, religion, gender or sexual orientation. For sport to thrive, it must be clean, fair, transparent and the unique nature of athletic careers must be taken into account. We assert this mandate in the interest of sport and the athletes that play it.” World Players Association | UNI Global Union | 8-10 Avenue Reverdil | 1260 Nyon | Switzerland Tel: +41 22 365 2100 | Fax: +41 22 365 2121 | www.uniglobalunion.org | www.worldplayers.co 10/126 1. The preparations for the Football World Cup 2022 reveal that the glittering world of Qatar is built by men and women who are forced to work and live in inhuman conditions. The building industry of Qatar depends on a system of the hiring of migrant workers especially from Nepal and India. The working conditions of this migrant labour force are devastating. Reports from the construction sites say that the workers are often held under conditions of forced labour. Due to the abominable working conditions many migrant workers even die on the construction sites. According to an estimate by ITUC the death toll of world cup workers amounts to 4.000. 2. These scandalising conditions are not a singular problem of this specific event in Qatar, but are characteristic for many other major sport events in countries round the world, like the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup. All too often complaints about fundamental rights as well as labour rights and working conditions come along with the placing of major sports events. World Players Association | UNI Global Union | 8-10 Avenue Reverdil | 1260 Nyon | Switzerland Tel: +41 22 365 2100 | Fax: +41 22 365 2121 | www.uniglobalunion.org | www.worldplayers.co 11/126 3. This Congress resolves that UNI will: • Oppose any sporting event being held in a country that cannot guarantee decent labour standards for workers including the Qatar Football World Cup 2022. • Take the Football World Cup 2022 as well as other major sport events in general as an opportunity to use the public interest and the union publicity to address scandalising conditions behind such events.