UTS Works Towards Youth Safeguarding: Combating Human Trafficking in Sport
Human trafficking remains one of the most pressing global issues, with the sports sector increasingly exploited for illicit activities. The global sports industry, valued between $471 billion and $1.4 trillion annually, presents both opportunities and vulnerabilities. Young athletes, particularly from the Global South, are often targeted by traffickers who manipulate their aspirations and circumstances for exploitation.
Ensuring the safety of young athletes requires concrete action and collaboration across the international sports community. United Through Sports (UTS) has long prioritized and been at the forefront of this effort, working alongside leading organizations such as Mission 89, a Geneva-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to eradicating child trafficking in sports through research, education, and advocacy. Lerina Bright, Mission 89’s Founder and Executive Director, has been a distinguished guest and speaker at several UTS events over the past years. Since the beginning of the year, Julia Govinden moved from funding commission member and was appointed as a board member of Mission 89, further strengthening UTS’ commitment to addressing sport trafficking and promoting ethical practices for youth safeguarding. Joining a board of leading sport, legal and government officials, there is a great opportunity for further collaborations and sharing of expertise.
#NotInOurGame Webinars
On 26 and 28 March, Mission 89 co-organized a two-part webinar series titled #NotInOurGame in collaboration with the National Freedom Network (NFN) South Africa. The webinars launched the first-ever Global Thematic Report on Sport Trafficking, a groundbreaking research initiative conducted in partnership with Loughborough University and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK.
The sessions featured keynote addresses, expert presentations, and a roundtable discussion with a distinguished lineup of speakers from across the sports ecosystem, including Omar Amr, Safeguarding Manager at the Confederation of African Football (CAF); Tea Machaidze, representing Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid of the United Nations; and professional footballer Ashleigh Plumptre. Other panelists included representatives from the African Football Agents Association, Uganda Rugby Union, and various advocacy groups, ensuring a diverse range of perspectives.
The Global Thematic Report on Sport Trafficking sheds light on how the sports sector has become a conduit for human trafficking, exposing vulnerabilities that leave young athletes, particularly from the Global South, susceptible to exploitation.
One Collective Concrete Commitment
A crucial takeaway from the webinar and the Report was the call for concrete action. Stakeholders agreed on the necessity of launching a practical toolkit to help international federations and sports organizations implement safeguarding measures. This includes developing national policy frameworks with clear commitments, integrating human rights standards into sports governance, supporting survivors, and educating athletes, families, and communities, particularly those at greater risk.
Indeed, there is a critical need to embed anti-trafficking measures into international sports frameworks and ensure national policies hold all stakeholders accountable. The first step is launching a toolkit to standardize protections, demand accountability, and equip sports bodies with practical tools to detect, prevent, and respond to trafficking risks. Mission 89 is developing this toolkit, as well as a council to drive policy implementation, ensuring governments and sports organizations adopt a clear definition of sport trafficking and address the unique conditions of sports, as they are often overlooked within mainstream anti-trafficking frameworks, with sport treated as an appendage rather than a distinct sector requiring dedicated interventions.
Reflecting on the discussions, UTS CEO and Mission 89 board member Julia Govinden stated: “This webinar has provided more unique and in-depth insights into the issues of this crisis and how to address it with actionable and realistic steps within the international sport framework. We still have much work to do and it starts with raising awareness, so UTS will focus this year on advocating across international sport federations and all our partners as a priority. Youth must be kept safe in sport, we have a duty to uphold.“
Moving forward, UTS remains committed to collaborating with Mission 89 to combat trafficking and uphold ethical standards across the global sports landscape. We look forward to upcoming events, including the SportAccord Convention 2025 and the UTS World Summit in Malaysia, which serve as a key platform to engage and educate federations and stakeholders, and encourage the broader implementation of safeguarding protocols in competitions, championships, and beyond.
As Lerina Bright, Mission 89’s founder and executive director, said: “It’s what we do next that counts to make sport a much safer place for athletes.”
UTS will continue working to ensure that young athletes worldwide are protected from exploitation and that sport remains a force for good.
