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Article

12 Jun 2018

Author:
Swedwatch

Sponsors must act on human rights risks

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Swedwatch’s latest briefing reviews measures taken by sponsors of the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) to address human rights risks associated with the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It argues that when a company enters a sponsorship agreement with a national sports association, the championships that the national teams play in become part of that company’s value chain. Thus, as stated in the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), corporate sponsors have a responsibility to address associated human rights risks and impacts.

The briefing reviews developments since Swedwatch previous studies conducted in 2014, and notes improvements in efforts to manage human rights risks among Swedish sponsors. Most notably, all companies that took part in the study’s survey have adopted human rights policies that extend to their sports sponsorships. Research findings in 2014, showed that none of the then investigated companies had such policies in place.

However, [...] the briefing points to considerable gaps between policy and practice, especially with regards to sponsors using their leverage over SvFF to prevent and mitigate specific human rights impacts.

The briefing recommends that all corporate sponsors [...] should also act on these findings, for example through encouraging sports associations to raise the identified human rights impacts with its international counterparts.