Sports and Human Rights

Based on a series of themes and case studies, this book aims to illustrate the impact of sports policies and practices on individuals and their identities, and to analyze the potential solutions offered by International human rights law (IHRL) for these infringements. It bridges the gap between IHRL and sports studies, and will be useful to scholars in both fields, especially those unfamiliar with each other’s work. Furthermore, by investigating the context of sport and its governance, this collection offers a series of valuable insights, enabling the development of an interpretation of ‘law in context’ for legal scholars in the field of human rights. As the governance and regulation of sport are seen as illustrations of other forms of normativity, this book also contributes to the conversation about the transnational dimension of law and legal orders. In this respect, it illustrates that normative autonomy in the field of sport, associated with the idea of lex sportiva, tends to be relative regarding IHRL. The sporting environment is not disconnected from major contemporary social issues: it constitutes a public space in which injustices can be denounced, but also the theater in which prejudices are perpetuated against various parties, such as athletes or workers. IHRL commonly addresses attacks on individual dignity and social justice issues by guaranteeing rights to individuals and offering them protection mechanisms. In this context, can IHRL solve the problems encountered in the sporting environment? This is the question that animates this volume. This is an open access book.

Véronique Boillet is an associate professor at the Law School of the University of Lausanne. She was previously a lawyer at the Lausanne’s Bar (2011-2013) - practical experience of legal proceedings and network among lawyers and judges – and has just been elected to the Board of the Swiss Institution for Human Rights (2023-2027). As a scholar, she has in-depth knowledge of the European and Swiss constitutional system, which she has been teaching since 2017 and which she has analyzed in several contributions published in leading European and Swiss law journals. 

Sophie Weerts is an associate professor of public law at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration, University of Lausanne. She holds a doctorate in law from the University of Louvain and has a background in law and ethics. Sophie was previously a visiting professor at the University of Geneva and the University of St-Louis-Brussels and a lecturer at the University of Neuchâtel and the University of Louvain (Uclouvain). She practiced law for several years at the Brussels bar and worked as an expert for the federal government. Her research lies at the crossroads of legal theory, constitutional law, and European law. She is currently focusing on issues relating to digital transformation and its impact on public law. In this context, she is particularly interested in the business and human rights perspective on the management of technological issues.

Andreas R. Ziegler is currently a Professor of International Law at the University of Lausanne and Director of its LLM Program in International Business Law. He holds a conjoint professorship at the Law School of the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) as well as visiting appointments at the Universities of St. Gallen and of the Saarland (Saarbrücken) as well as ETH Zurich and the Geneva Academy. Previously he was a civil servant working for several Swiss Ministries (Foreign Affairs, Trade) and international organizations (EFTA, EU). He has widely published on Swiss, international and European law (including “Swiss LGBT Law”, 2nd edn. 2017) and regularly advises Governments, International Organizations, NGOs and private clients and has represented them before various domestic and international courts and arbitral tribunals. He is on the permanent roster of panelists of the WTO and a Member of the European Commission of Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL). He is the President of the Swiss Chapter of the International Law Association (ILA) and on the Board of the Swiss and the German Societies of International Law and the European Law Faculties Association - ELFA). He founded and manages the blog “sogiesc.law.blog” on international and comparative SOGIESC law.