By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – Ugochi Daniels, the IOM deputy director general for operations on Wednesday said that the sport should represent for young people worldwide.
A new campaign supported by the International Organization for Migration works to counter a darker side of the multi-billion dollar industry by ending child trafficking through sports.
“Sport should be a source of joy and achievement, not a gateway to exploitation. Yet traffickers prey on the ambitions of young athletes, using false promises to lure them into abuse and deception,” said Ugochi Daniels, the IOM deputy director general for operations.
IOM reported that 50 million people worldwide who are subjected to trafficking-related abuses, 38 per cent of them are children. And of these children victims, 11 per cent are trafficked through false promises.
In the sports industry, this takes many forms, including joining fake sports academies or signing what appear to be professional contracts.
These dreams and their disadvantaged backgrounds, according to the campaign, can also make them uniquely vulnerable to the false promises of traffickers.
IOM is calling upon stakeholders within the $1.2 trillion sports industry to strengthen protection mechanisms and working alongside Mission 89 – an organization which fights young athlete exploitation.
This includes reforming unethical recruitment strategies which can be exploited by traffickers and providing education to the entire industry about the harms and risks of trafficking.
In addition to these tangible changes, the campaign is also calling on industry leaders to sign commitments which declare zero tolerance of the scourge.
Lerina Bright, the founder and executive director of Mission 89 said “While we continue to celebrate the power of sport, we cannot ignore the risks faced by young athletes.”
“This campaign is about ensuring that every child who dreams through sport is safe supported and never exploited,” she concluded.
