The participating experts included Jonas Burgheim, founder and director of the Cares Project who contributed in his voluntary role of president of the German Zentrum für Menschenrechte und Sport e.V. (German Centre for Human Rights and Sport). Other experts included Dr. Anette Niederfranke for the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Wenzel Michalski for Human Rights Watch Germany (HRW), Friedhelm Julius Beucher for the German Paralympic Comittee, Maximilian Klein for Athleten Deutschland e.V., and Mary Harvey for the Centre for Sport and Human Rights in Geneva.

In his written submission and oral statements Jonas Burgheim pointed out the fact that currently German sporting organisations are not obliged by national regulation to respect human rights according to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP). Their “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework provides the internationally established framework for the integration of human rights due diligence in business action. Their German implementation in form of the human rights due diligence act and the national action plan on business and human rights (NAP) do currently not include professional sports organisations. Furthermore, there is no broader awareness for the fact that human rights challenges form a part of all sporting activities, on professional and amateur levels. Jonas Burgheim called on the political representatives present, to support training and education in this field and to require sporting organisations to live up to due diligence standards according to the UNGP.

The entire hearing can be streamed in the video recording embedded above.

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