The German Football Federation DFB and the Cares Project/Sport Cares have agreed on a consultancy mandate for services in the field of business and human rights. According to the agreement, Cares Project founder and director, Mr Jonas Burgheim, will provide the world’s biggest single sport’s federation with his expertise in a function as external adviser. The collaboration will particularly be dedicated to implementing human rights due diligence.

DFB had previously committed to respecting “all internationally established human rights” in §2 of its statutory document in fall 2019. Required next steps to implement human rights due diligence in its activities and processes will now be supported by the Cares Project. This notably includes work in reference to the UN Guiding Principles (UNGP) and the German National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights. On their basis the Cares Project will provide expertise and recommendations to the DFB human rights approach.

The Cares Project can draw on the experience of diverse prior assignments with regard to business and human, particularly, in a sporting environment. Recent consultancy mandates include an expertise for the Council of Europe on the European Sports Charter revision process just like a human rights risk assessment for the independent German athletes’ representation body Athleten Deutschland e.V. amongst others.

In his article “Human Rights Due Diligence in German High Level Sports“, which was published as part of the scientific compendium “Sport in the Context of International Cooperation and Development” in March 2020, Jonas Burgheim furthermore describes content and practical implementation challenges in this field of work.

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