John Amaechi (United Kingdom), Retired NBA superstar and Amnesty International Human Rights Ambassador and Brian Dooley (UK), Amnesty International, London spoke on Human Rights and Sports at the International Human Rights Conference associated to the World Out Games, held in Copenhagen in August 2009.
Major human rights breakthroughs have been made in the area of sport; Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali and Martina Navratilova are iconic athletes and human rights figures. Sport can demolish stereotypes and promote diversity but it can also harbour bigotry and discrimination.
Some countries are allowed to send only male athletes to the Olympic Games; homophobia and racism remain unaddressed at the highest levels of major sports.
This workshop explored the power of sport to both perpetuate and overcome discrimination and share examples of effective human rights activism in sport.
Watch a video clip from the workshop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp4jaLCdL5M
