Racism significantly impacts access to sport: Independent expert

From high participation costs and restrictions on Palestinian athletes – to bans on Muslim women wearing hijabs – racism continues to shape who gets to participate in sport, a new UN report published on Thursday has found. Despite sport’s ability to promote diversity and inclusion, the report noted that those from racial and ethnic minorities lack representation at many levels of global sport, with governance and access disparities reflecting broader structural inequalities.

Ashwini K.P., the Human Rights Council-appointed independent expert on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, recognised sport’s unique place in promoting cultural expression and collective identity.

“Persistent stereotypes continue to influence how athletes are identified, trained, selected and perceived,” the Special Rapporteur told the Human Rights Council on Thursday. “I am concerned about the underrepresentation of racially and ethnically marginalised groups, including minorities, caste-oppressed communities, and other racialised populations.”

In her report, she recommended that Member States collect disaggregated data on racism within sports, invest in sport infrastructure and promote equal access, ensure athletes’ safety, consider any eligibility regulations that could have discriminatory impacts, and recall their obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Economic barriers
Lack of access to facilities, equipment, coaching, travel and nutrition can serve as a powerful barrier to children and young people entering sport, and geographic proximity to sport facilities can also limit participation by lower-income families, the Special Rapporteur found.

In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, restrictions on freedom of movement and travel and the destruction of sports facilities have made international competition nearly impossible, the report said

The report also noted that because many amateur and youth leagues serve as pipelines to more elite levels, the inability to access sport as a child may have a lifelong impact on participation, ultimately depriving lower-income children of physical and mental health benefits.

These economic disparities are not race neutral, since in many countries racially discriminatory underdevelopment is a byproduct of colonialism and historical exploitation, according to the report.

For example, in England and Wales, Asian British and Black British cricketers together constituted only 8.1 per cent of male professional cricketers in 2021, while 30 to 35 per cent of the game’s adult recreational population were from ethnically diverse backgrounds, a 2023 report found.

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Source: The UN