Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.31141/zrpfs.2019.56.132.305
Protection of children in sports
Nenad Đurđević
; Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Kragujevcu, Kragujevac, Srbija
Abstract
Pursuant to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted in 1989, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier. Every day vast number of children all over the world take part in sporting activities of recreational or competitive type in public spaces, schools, sport clubs or in other organisations. Those activities are supported and encouraged by their parents, numerous coaches, sport officials and other persons. Youth are engaging in sport at much younger age which is based on a fact that physical activity is a childs natural form of motions representing challenge and enjoyment brought by a game. For most of the children physical activities are positive life experiences enabling them to improve personal physical capabilities and their health condition and to develop social relations with others. However, there are also children whose engagement in sport is tied with adverse, even traumatic experiences as a result of discrimination, violence, abuse, exploitation, excessive coaching, impairment of health and undue influence to psychosocial and motorial abilities or education. All public authorities and participants in sport must decisively combat these adverse phenomena using relevant legal and social instruments. Sport in all forms must be individually accessible to every child without discrimination enabling equal opportunities for boys and girls with due respect to requirements of particular age. In this paper, the author points out the welfare that sport engagement brings to children considering typical forms of child abuse in sport and measures that need to be taken in order to protect children from various forms of discrimination, violence, abuse and exploitation in sport. The author also shows measures taken in that context at the international level, as well as accepted solutions from the Law on Sport of the Republic of Serbia adopted in 2016 concerning special protection of children in sport.
Keywords
child safeguarding in sport; protection of children in sport; discrimination; violence; maltreatment; abuse; exploitation; sport; children
Hrčak ID:
220103
URI
Publication date:
14.5.2019.
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