The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board has approved plans to establish two pilot regional safeguarding hubs in Southern Africa and the Pacific Islands with a European hub to follow.
An IOC statement said “The new regional hubs will act as central coordination points, and will provide athletes with independent guidance, and help them access psychosocial support, legal aid and any other assistance that they may need. This will be delivered through existing services, available locally, in the athletes’ own language and with an understanding of their culture and local context.”
The establishment of the pilot hubs will be overseen by an International Safe Sport Task Force, which will include representatives from sport, intergovernmental organisations and civil society. The IOC EB on Friday (13 October) approved the creation of the International Safe Sport Task Force, and also gave its green light for the drafting of an International Safe Sport Framework.
Chair of the IOC Safeguarding Working Group HRH Prince Feisal al Hussein said “With this initiative we are following up on the request of the Olympic Movement stakeholders to take the lead and to develop an approach which works locally. Over the past few months, we discussed how we can bridge the gap between the work being done internationally and locally to safeguard athletes. With the establishment of pilot regional safeguarding hubs in Southern Africa and the Pacific Islands, we are taking a bottom-up approach - critical in this field. We provide standardised principles that can be adapted on the local level, aligned with the culture and context. By the region, for the region.”
You can read the IOC statement here.
