“Build it and they will come”: Plans for a new sports and human rights dispute resolution chamber gather pace

Brendan Schwab, Executive Director of the World Players Association (WPA), which brings together 85,000 professional athletes, including tens of thousands of footballers, has developed a “Sport and Human Rights Dispute Resolution Mechanism”.

He tells Off The Pitch that its aim is to establish a new dispute resolution mechanism administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which can run in parallel to CAS for cases in which sporting cases with human rights elements can be heard.

Why it matters: Sports law, especially at an international level, has evolved according to its own set of norms, and has failed to put human rights at its heart.

The perspective: Schwab believes that international sport needs a system of justice that puts athletes at the centre of justice and properly recognises their human rights.