FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: What are the goals of this project?

The goals of the Children’s Rights and Sports initiative are to highlight the value of using a human rights frame to grow access to sports, to inspire organizations to adopt minimum standards for youth participation, and to unlock the full power of sports to address a range of societal challenges.

We know active kids do better in life. This call to action can facilitate as much while helping sport make a contribution toward achieving many of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, including good health and well-being, gender equality, poverty reduction, sustainable cities and communities, and climate action.

Since inception in 2015, Project Play has been guided by a strategic framework, “Sport for All, Play for Life: A Playbook to Get Every Kid in the Game,” which offers eight strategies for the eight sectors that touch the lives of children. Think of that as the “how” and the “who” it takes to build healthy children and communities through sports. The Children’s Bill of Rights in Sports, the core resource created from this new initiative, adds the “what” — eight clear principles that should underpin all sport activities of children, tied to the human rights all are born with.

Q: What are the rights children are born with?

The rights fall into two general categories: 

1)    Children’s right to sport activities

Play is a human right that is bestowed at birth, as recognized in the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely adopted human rights treaty in the world. In its 2013 interpretation of this right, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child observed, “Play and recreation are essential to the health and well-being of children and promote the development of creativity, imagination, self-confidence, self-efficacy, as well as physical, social, cognitive and emotional strength and skills. They contribute to all aspects of learning; they are a form of participation in everyday life and are of intrinsic value to the child, purely in terms of the enjoyment and pleasure they afford. Research evidence highlights that playing is also central to children’s spontaneous drive for development, and that it performs a significant role in the development of the brain, particularly in the early years. Play and recreation facilitate children’s capacities to negotiate, regain emotional balance, resolve conflicts, and make decisions. Through their involvement in play and recreation, children learn by doing; they explore and experience the world around them; experiment with new ideas, roles and experiences and in so doing, learn to understand and construct their social position within the world.”

The Committee further recognized that sport, in all forms, is a primary venue for play. “Wherever possible, these opportunities should be afforded within local communities, in public and private parks, playgrounds and other recreation venues. No child should be discriminated against based on their race, color, gender, religion, language, sexual orientation, political affiliation, ethnic or social origin, ability, or other status. Particular attention should be given to addressing the rights of our most vulnerable groups of children including girls, children with disabilities, children living in poor or hazardous environments, children living in poverty, children in rural communities, and asylum-seeking and refugee children.”

As the Olympic Charter states, “The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”

2)    Children’s rights within sport programs

Where adults organize the sport activities of children, they have a responsibility to do so in alignment with the broader human rights of children. They should adhere to a set of expectations in program delivery.

Together, the above principles are expressed here as a Children’s Bill of Rights in Sports. They recognize the right of youth:

• To play sports

• To safe and healthy environments

• To qualified program leaders

• To developmentally appropriate play

• To share in the planning and delivery of their activities

• To an equal opportunity for personal growth

• To be treated with dignity

• To enjoy themselves

This concept is not new. A version of these rights was first conceptualized in 1979 by Rainer Maartens and Vern Seefeldt of the American Sport Education Program. The Aspen Institute modified the descriptions, and interpreted them in a modern context. Principles also were drawn from the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Committee’s 2013 General Comment on play and recreational activities, and the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Other resources reviewed by the Aspen Institute include the U.S.-based SafeSport Code for the Olympic & Paralympic Movement, the 2014 International Safeguards for Children in Sport, a 2017 declaration by the World Players Association and its 2021 survey of elite athletes, the 2003 book Human Rights in Youth Sport by Paulo David, and the National Youth Sports Strategy, issued in 2019 by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Children’s rights in sports declarations in other countries also were studied.

Q: Why is a rights approach valuable?

Declarations of rights in sports, whether embedded in law or non-government resources, often deliver positive outcomes.

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX. In 1972, just one in 27 girls played high school sports. Today, it’s two in five. Prohibiting discrimination by gender in educational institutions receiving federal funds helped sport open to a population that had been denied equitable access. The downstream benefits have been myriad, from reduced teen pregnancy rates to athletes advancing to C-Suites to the emergence of professional leagues for women. At the Tokyo Olympics, U.S. women won a record 66 medals, 58.4% of the medals earned by Team USA, ensuing the U.S. finished atop the medal count.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibited discrimination against persons with documented disabilities. The law expanded opportunities for such athletes in school and non-school settings, from golf courses to swimming pools, bowling alleys to fitness centers, the Special Olympics to the Paralympic Games. The U.S. Department of Education added protections in 2013, directing that students with disabilities be given equal opportunities to play school sports.

In the sports sector, statements of rights are becoming more common. Pennsylvania West State Soccer Association, a member of the U.S. Soccer Federation with 130 youth clubs, has posted a bill of rights on its website since 2001 as a resource to set expectations with its 7,000 coaches, said executive director Tim McCoy. In December 2020 as a result of a series of abuse scandals, USA Gymnastics, the National Governing Body (NGB) for the sport, introduced an Athlete Bill of Rights that was crafted by its athlete council. USA Artistic Swimming, the NGB for synchronized swimming, joined in April, integrating the language into its rulebook.

In July, Child USA and Army of Survivors, non-profit advocacy groups focused on child abuse, used a rights argument to propose the tying of insurance coverage to compliance with sexual abuse protections by youth sports programs.

The Aspen Institute-drafted Children’s Bill of Rights in Sports is a more holistic and general statement, inclusive of but not limited to calls for abuse protections of athletes. It recognizes the right of all children to participate in, and develop through, sports activities.

Q: How have declarations been used in other countries?

The trailblazer is Norway, where a Children’s Rights in Sports agreement was adopted by its sports federations after a poor showing at the 1988 Olympics. Updated in 2007, the resource has helped build the base of children playing sports and the quality of their experience – and ultimately a world-renowned sport system. In the 2018 Olympics, the nation of 5.3 million people (the size of Minnesota) won a Winter Games-record 39 medals. More important, Norway is now one of the healthiest and happiest nations, with community sport widely recognized as making a positive contribution to civic life. One of its champion athletes, speedskater Johann Olav Koss, founded Right to Play, a respected non-profit that helps children in Africa and Asia overcome the effects of war, poverty, and disease through sport and play.

Other nations are now following Norway’s lead, with modifications tailored to their unique sport and national cultures. In 2018, Japan and UNICEF released Children’s Rights in Sports Principles. In 2020, the government of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, introduced a bill of rights for children in sports to reign in abuses after a basketball player died. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other nations have revamped their national sports strategies with a nod to the needs of youth and public health. The global push has only grown during the pandemic, with European sports ministers recently advocating for a revision of the European Sports Charter, stating the “inclusiveness of sport and its alignment with human rights is non-negotiable if sport is to be a right in itself.”

Q: Are these legal rights?

No. Only courts, Congress or state legislatures can establish as much.

The Children’s Bill of Rights in Sports is simply a resource created by a non-governmental organization that legislators can deploy as they see fit. The legal environment surrounding youth sports is constantly shifting. But unlike federal legislation like Title IX, or the White House executive order to federal agencies this year banning discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation (or the ensuing legislation enacted in some states prohibiting transgender students from playing girls’ sports in schools), the set of principles expressed in the statement does not have any force of law.

The statement’s chief value is in encouraging the development of and adherence to program standards. The U.S. sport ecosystem consists of more than 100,000 grassroots programs that vary widely in quality and accessibility, with no government entity to drive adoption of minimum standards. The U.S. Olympic Committee (now U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee) was tasked by Congress in 1978 to “coordinate amateur athletic activity in the United States” and “to recognize certain rights” of athletes; but these definitions are vague, the mandate is unfunded, and so the USOPC has focused mostly on supporting elite athletes.

Support for the call to action can help create normative rights, those which sit outside the law but structure our shared expectations. Examples include the right to choose one’s career path, college major, or where to live. Applied to youth sports, they can create benchmarks and a common language for stakeholders. They can improve program delivery and unlock new sources of funding by helping business, philanthropy and government understand where to invest.

Recognizing these rights also can help cities recruit major sports events. The 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup is among the first to include extensive human rights elements in its bid requirements. The U.S., Mexico and Canada won with a joint proposal that included a promise to address children’s rights. Working with FIFA, the Center for Sport and Human Rights developed a checklist that asks potential host cities whether they have in place a non-discrimination policy ensuring access to sports programs for all children, and a legacy strategy to grow youth participation and which takes into account the concerns and views of children.

Q: Why now?

The need has never been greater. Pre-pandemic, the average age that a child quit a sport was 11, having played less than three years. The most common reason cited was it wasn’t fun anymore. Youth from low-income homes were six times as likely to quit as due to costs. By high school, 43% of students no longer played on any team at school or in their community, with rates lowest among girls and racial minorities; only 23% of students met the federal government’s recommended level of physical activity, down five points from 2011. Drowning was an epidemic, the second leading cause of death for children ages 5 to 14, with 64% of African American, 45% of Hispanic, and 40% of Caucasian children unable to swim. Sport programs for youth with disabilities were limited.

COVID-19 has expanded the divides. Urban youth have been less able to enjoy outdoor activities like bicycling, tennis, and golf. Structural weaknesses in the organized sport system have been laid bare, with children whose families can afford clubs and private recreation options returning to play more quickly than those who rely on school and community programs. At the same time, they rejoined a sport ecosystem that often lacks program quality standards or basic safeguards for health and safety.

Most of the 5.8 million adults coaching children say they are not trained in key competencies, from effective motivational technique to CPR and injury prevention. About half of all athletes suffer acute injuries and, under pressure to specialize in one sport early, an estimated 37% to 68% suffer overuse injuries, most of them preventable. The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that more than 100,000 ACLs are surgically reconstructed annually; among 14- to 18-year-olds, that injury has increased 148% over the last 10 years. More troubling, reports have been lodged of sexual abuse in gymnastics, swimming and other sports. Since its founding in 2017, the U.S. Center for Safe Sport has received more than 8,000 reports across the Olympic community.

As the pandemic lifts, young people deserve a sport ecosystem that is more child-centered, with mental health and access as elevated priorities. Recognizing and respecting the rights of children in sports can help turn historic crisis into opportunity.

Q: How can I help?

Glad you asked.

1. ENDORSE THE children’s BILL rights in sports

Is your organization interested in being listed as a supporter of the Children’s Bill of Rights in Sports? Are you an athlete who wants to expand access to sports for future generations? We want to hear from you.

2. Encourage your network to do the same

Here’s a Social Media Toolkit. Use the hashtag #BornToPlay.

3. Put the Bill of Rights to use

• Community and School Sports Programs: Review your policies and practices with children’s rights as a filter. Educate youth about their rights and communicate to them and parents/caregivers what your program is doing to align. Realize the potential benefits, from enhanced program quality to a reputation as an organization that cares about the human development of every child. See Program Resources for an editable template that can help.

• National Sport Organizations: Review your policies and practices with children’s rights as a filter. Develop tools and incentives for affiliated programs to embrace the rights.

• Grantmakers and Sponsors: Fund organizations that can demonstrate adherence to the rights.

• Parents/Caregivers: Ask sport providers about their policies and practices. Also, give your children a voice in the design of their sports activity by asking what they want (Project Play has learned a lot by doing that over the years).

• Adult Athletes: Use your platform to advocate for these rights. See Social Media Toolkit.

• Youth: Know your rights. Share what matters to you with the adults shaping your sport activities. Note: If you experienced abuse, contact a trusted adult or local authorities. Additional guidance and resources can be found at the U.S. Center for SafeSport.

• Policymakers: Develop policies and unlock funds that can help programs align with the rights.

Q: What’s next?

The Aspen Institute will continue to educate the public and key stakeholders on the value of recognizing and respecting the human rights of children in the provision of sports. Opportunities will be identified that can help embed those rights into the design of policies and programs, and symbiotic resources will be created with organizations in the Project Play network.

You can email us here to learn more about the initiative, or if you have additional questions.