Sports Development and Human Rights

This chapter is concerned with the relationship between sports development and the human right to participate in sport. It is argued that the status of sport participation as a human right should affect its treatment in human affairs, including social and economic development or, in the terminology favoured by the United Nations (UN), sustainable development. The chapter is divided into four sections: first, a discussion of the status of sport as a human right in relation to the UN global human rights system; second, the relationship between sports development, the UN human development programmes and sport as a human right; third, assessment of nation states’ compliance with human rights treaty obligations and, fourth, the place of the right to sport participation in international, national, provincial, and local sports development. The chapter indicates that, currently, despite the formal status of sport participation as a human right, it is generally marginalised by the responsible international, national, and local agencies.