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Resolution 2131 (2016)
Sport for all: a bridge to equality, integration and social inclusion
1. Sport is one of the most popular
activities in our societies and is by far the most prevalent among associations.
In addition to the improvement in physical and mental well-being
brought about by engaging in physical activity, sport plays an important
role for social cohesion by providing opportunities for people of different
genders, abilities and nationalities or from different cultures
to meet and exchange ideas, thereby strengthening the culture of
“living together”.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly notes, however, that sport for
all is not yet a reality and wishes to encourage the adoption of
a more integrated and a more dynamic approach to promoting access
to sport in the Council of Europe member States.
3. To this end, the Assembly recommends that member States:
3.1. refocus the priorities of their
sports policies to highlight the contribution of sport to achieving
the objectives of other policies, including those on health, social
cohesion, education, youth, non-discrimination, and the reception
and integration of migrants;
3.2. strengthen the collaboration of public institutions working
in these areas, especially when they are in contact with young people
and vulnerable groups, and increase the synergies between their
activities and those of sports organisations so that the various
stakeholders together play an active role in combating all forms
of discrimination in sport.
4. In this context, public authorities should in particular:
4.1. involve school and university
sports to a greater extent in the promotion of “sport for all”,
in co-operation with sports organisations, especially in order to
reach a younger population and reduce “dropping out of sport”;
4.2. support associations and organisations which promote activities
that afford an opportunity, through sport for all, to bring together
different sections of the population, in particular girls and boys, people
with and without disabilities, people from different communities,
people who are isolated and those who are socially integrated;
4.3. establish, in close co-operation with sports organisations,
mechanisms for regular and systematic monitoring of discrimination
in the field of sport, including incidents of discrimination based
on a person’s disability, racial, cultural or ethnic identity, age,
religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression
or sexual characteristics, in order to improve risk analysis in
this area, explore targeted prevention strategies, facilitate the
lodging of individual complaints and ensure that they are properly investigated;
4.4. involve equality bodies and national human rights institutions
to a greater extent in combating discrimination in sport, promote
their co-operation in running awareness-raising activities, and
authorise these bodies to participate in legal action brought against
perpetrators of discrimination;
4.5. initiate deliberations, together with sports organisations,
on a better way of redistributing revenues generated by top-level
professional sport – especially by the major sports events that
attract large television audiences – in order to allocate a percentage
of those revenues to projects aimed at improving access to sport
for all;
4.6. pay particular attention to the gender dimension, and
in this respect:
4.6.1. recognise women athletes’ achievements
and encourage young women to participate in sports; seek to reduce
the gender-based remuneration gap and award disparities;
4.6.2. significantly increase media visibility of women in sport,
notably by devoting more public service broadcasting airtime to
women’s sport and by promoting a non-sexist view of sport;
4.6.3. recognise the importance of increasing the number of women
board members in sports organisations at all levels in order to
remedy the current gender imbalance within these sports organisations;
4.6.4. ensure provision of “girl-friendly” sports facilities
in disadvantaged neighbourhoods that would allow girls and young
women to have access to sport without fear, free from violence or apprehension
with regard to the way they are perceived in the neighbourhood;
4.6.5. encourage girls and women to become coaches and leaders
in all fields of sport;
4.6.6. commit to eradicating all forms of discrimination and
stigmatisation based on gender, gender expression or sexual orientation
in all aspects of sport, including policies, practices, administration,
funding, programming and training; in particular, hold individuals
accountable for the use of sexist language in sports competitions;
4.7. intensify efforts towards the inclusion in sports activities
of persons with disabilities and support a wider media broadcasting
of sports events involving them;
4.8. seek practical solutions that enable irregular migrants
to access sport, including by making sports facilitators available;
4.9. broaden the scope of action in all areas that have an
impact on access to sport, making it more inclusive; in particular,
encourage investment in accessible infrastructure;
4.10. include sports associations and non-governmental organisations
in the decision-making processes that affect urban planning in order
to enhance access to sport for all;
4.11. foster the establishment of sports clubs in rural and
disadvantaged urban areas and take measures to provide accessible,
affordable and youth-friendly public services in the field of sport,
as requested by Committee of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2015)3
on the access of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods
to social rights;
4.12. encourage the training of sports instructors in the principles
and good practices of citizenship education, respect for diversity
in a multicultural society, awareness of and ways of fighting all
forms of gender bias and discrimination, and inclusion of people
with disabilities;
4.13. promote the concept of “sport on prescription” at local
level, in co-operation with local and regional authorities;
4.14. support wide-ranging research on sport and social inclusion,
in order to promote evidence-based policies and well-informed decisions
in the field of sport.
5. The Assembly calls on member States to support the work of
the Council of Europe Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS)
on access to sport for all and invites the countries that are not
yet members of this partial agreement to consider joining it.
6. The Assembly highlights the benefits which could be gained
from establishing a European “sport for all” label endorsing projects
set up for the development of inclusive sports activities.
7. The Assembly recognises the fundamental role of the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) in fostering equal access to sport for all
and in changing mentalities, and the roles of the International
Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the International and European Federations
of Adapted Physical Activity (IFAPA and EFAPA) in co-ordinating
research and information. The Assembly therefore calls on the IOC
to develop a comprehensive programme for the promotion of sport
for all and the fight against all forms of discrimination, in close
co-operation with national Olympic committees, international sports
federations, athletes and IOC-accredited organisations, also seeking
the active involvement and support of media broadcasters and sports brands,
through partnership agreements with them.