2019 Activity Report

2 0 1 A C T I V I T Y R E P O R T 9 You can be whatever you wish or dream to be Francisca Ordega, Nigerian Professional Football Player, Shanghai Shenhua Football Club TABLE OF CONTENTS About M89 4 Our Foundation Our Vision Our Mission Our Goals Our Programs Research Education Advocacy Program Support Message from the Executive Director 5 Headlines from 2019 6 Research Program 7-8 Education Program 9-10 Advocacy Program 11-13 Communications Campaigns 14 Fundraising 15 ABOUT M89 Our Foundation Our Goals Mission 89 is the only non-governmental Prevention: organisation dedicated to combating child Increasing visibility, interest trafficking in sport. The organisation takes its and communication surrounding the issue. name and its guiding principles from the United Protection: Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child Empowering those most vulnerable to exploitation – signed in 1989 – which declares that with the tools to make informed decisions. members “shall take measures to combat the Prosecution: illicit transfer and non-return of children Advocating for regulations and policies that abroad”. Mission 89 also advocates for the guarantee accountability in safeguarding the well- enforcement of the International Olympic being of children in sport. Committee’s principles prohibiting the Partnership: exploitation of young athletes and FIFA’s Article Uniting all stakeholders in a joint effort to tackle the 19 of its Regulations on the Status and Transfer phenomenon. of Players, which aims to halt the illicit trafficking of young footballers. Our Vision Our Mission End child trafficking in sports. Protect young athletes from human trafficking by advocating for evidence-based policies that uphold children’s rights. PROGRAMS Research projects uncover new evidence and analyse data in order to create a body of evidence on the issue. Education projects engage grassroots and institutional stakeholders in order to give practical advice and skills to prevent them from becoming victims or enablers of trafficking, respectively. Advocacy projects engage institutional stakeholders in order to advocate that they change policies or enforce rules. Program efforts include activities that engage stakeholders and the general public in order to increase awareness on the issue of child trafficking in sports, to grow the Mission 89 Support brand, and to raise funds. 4 MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Combating trafficking in any sector is not a task Our resourceful team of research volunteers has for one organisation, especially in the multi-tiered since laid the foundation with studies centred on sports ecosystem. 2019 was a significant year in activities surrounding the Super Bowl in the U.S., which we accomplished several key objectives incidents of trafficking in baseball, basketball and with several collaborators and partners. Our athletics a focus on trafficking in football in Asia. legislative action advocacy with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK led Our education pillar involves building an anti- to MP Jared Okello successfully organising an trafficking mobile app as a tool and resource for awareness raising event for 700 youth in Western young athletes looking to get into sport and also Kenya. We also partnered up with stakeholders for agents and coaches globally. We look forward including IOM Egypt, Interpol and FIFA. Mission to the realisation of this dream with excitement 89’s flagship ‘#NotInOurGame’ campaign and anticipation since investment bank Goldman expanded in reach and impact through digital and Sachs offered to support us and fruitful on-ground activations. The ‘#NotInOurGame’ consultative work has taken place. In 2020, we campaign is a critical part of our work in raising hope to bring more stakeholders to the awareness and empowering youth with the conversation. To go farther and reach higher for information they need to pursue careers in sport this cause we need everyone on board. Everyone, safely. We can confidently say we have delivered including you. As you review this report, we hope this with your support. you will be encouraged, if you have not already, to support our work and partner with us to end Social media strategies included interviews with human trafficking in sport. female footballers ahead of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup and takeovers which saw To all of you who have tirelessly given time and journalists interview victims and survivors of resources to any of our efforts, all gratitude to trafficking. These actions have significantly you. increased public understanding of the issue at hand. Fundamental to our continued efforts, we also became Observers to Interpol – Human Trafficking Expert Group and signed a Lerina Bright Memorandum of Understanding with IOM – Egypt, allowing us to communicate directly with Executive Board the tech giant regarding any harmful content Thomas Kurth online. Yann Colenbier Robert Faulkner Data drives successfully galvanise and intensify advocacy and the biggest challenge to our work Advisor has been the lack of this. Dr. May Ikeora, Trafficking in Persons 5 HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2019 Research Program Human Trafficking at Major Sporting Events In 2019, Mission 89 conducted an We, on the other hand, continue to study the investigation into the link between human gaps in the available research and intend to trafficking and major sporting events, carry out a comprehensive study of this focusing on the issue of sex trafficking at issue in 2021. Furthermore, Mission 89 the Super Bowl as a case study. recognises that the Super Bowl – and other major sporting events – still presents a Following a months-long desk review of valuable opportunity to raise awareness existing research, it was concluded that among stakeholders about human and sex despite strident claims by U.S. politicians trafficking in sport. that the Super Bowl was a significant driver of increased sex trafficking around the event, no strong causal link was found between the two. 7 Trafficking of Athletes in Basketball, Baseball, and Athletics While Mission 89’s mandate encompasses The 6-page desk review focused primarily on human trafficking in all forms of sport, it has trafficking in athletics between East Africa historically focused on association football. and wealthy Gulf States, in baseball between In 2019, the organisation spearheaded an Cuban players and Major League Baseball, initiative to expand its area of expertise by and in basketball the study looked at the commissioning a research study into human National Basketball Association’s recruitment trafficking in athletics, baseball, and and exploitation of both West African players basketball. and homegrown American athletes through the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) organisation. Sport Trafficking in Asia In recognition of the growing influence that driving this phenomenon. The second study Asian economies exert on the world of sport, broadened its scope to include sports other Mission 89 conducted a pair of research than football (e.g. rugby) as well as other studies in 2019 on sport trafficking in the illicit activities in connection with sport Asia Pacific region. The first study trafficking, such as match fixing. investigated cases of West African footballers trafficked to a number of Asian clubs, examining the array of emerging forces 8 Education Program Cairo Workshop In July 2019, Mission 89 organised a two-day The workshop occurred under the umbrella educational workshop in Egypt in partnership of the Memorandum of Understanding with the International Organisation for between Mission 89 and IOM Egypt, which Migration (IOM). Over the course of the was signed in 2019 and which aims to workshop, more than 65 young migrants from coordinate activities, share expertise, and various nationalities competed in a special improve awareness amongst migrants in football tournament and participated in Egypt on issues related to human trafficking sessions about the dangers of human and sport. Further joint activities between trafficking in football, facilitated by Mission IOM Egypt and Mission 89 are planned for 89. By the end of the workshop, participants 2020. had learned about various forms of human trafficking in sports, how to identify risks and prevent being misled by traffickers, where to go to verify the validity of potential opportunities, and what the appropriate steps are in pursuit of a legitimate career in sport. The workshop was highlighted in pages 52-53 of IOM Egypt’s 2019 Annual Report, and a photo from the event was selected for the report’s cover page. Cairo workshop Genoa Workshops Mission 89 held five educational workshops held in a local theatre and was open to the in Genoa, Italy throughout 2019. The general public. In total, approximately 100 workshops’ objective was to raise awareness students and 30 adults attended the various about the risks of human trafficking in sport, workshops in 2019. Mission 89 plans to both in Italy and internationally. Four continue and expand this series of workshops were conducted in two secondary educational workshops in Genoa in 2020. schools in Genoa, and a fifth workshop was Genoa workshop open to the general public 9 Academy Toolkit In 2019, Mission 89 began development of a Drafting of the toolkit began in mid-2019 and toolkit for football academies. With its 10 was followed by a months-long stakeholder criteria, the toolkit aims to serve as a consultation process wherein five industry compliance guideline for football academies and subject matter experts provided traveling with children to participate in feedback and recommendations for the training or competitions abroad. The toolkit future. The consultation process was was conceived for informational purposes, completed by the end of the year. and to provide a framework that supports football academies in safeguarding their In 2020, the recommendations will be young players against the risks of exploitation incorporated into a revised version, and the at the hands of unscrupulous people or scope of the toolkit will be broadened through intermediaries such as fake agents, a second round of consultations. Seeking smugglers and traffickers.

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