CONFERENCE. Together for the Protection of Young Players in Africa. 7-8 th December 2015, Dakar, Senegal

Transcription

1 CONFERENCE Together for the Protection of Young Players in Africa 7-8 th December 2015, Dakar, Senegal

2 Background Attracted by the light of European Football, young African players and their families are lured and exploited by fake agents into migrating without any contracts or guarantees. On arrival, the minors are abandoned, and left to their own devices, without any contacts, undocumented and homeless. Studies show that African footballers tend to leave their country very young (18.6 years old on average), unlike Europeans and Latin Americans (between 21.4 and 22.3 years old). But in fact, young Africans are recruited even younger, sometimes as young as 10 years old. This illegal recruitment was once the action of isolated individuals, it now involves structured criminal networks and is becoming commonplace, even becoming institutionalised with the participation of official football players. Yet several international documents are put in place to protect minors in sport: The International Convention on Children's Rights (UN 1989), ratified by 193 states in the world, condemns child exploitation (Art. 32): "States recognize the right of the child to be protected against economic exploitation and performing any work that is hazardous or likely to compromise his education or harm their health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development ". The Palermo Protocol (2002), supplementing the UN Convention, the first universal instrument covering all aspects of trafficking, defines human trafficking as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. The Palermo Protocol preconise the 3 P s paradigm: Prevention of trafficking, Protection of victims and Prosecution of traffickers. The European Parliament resolution on the future of professional football in Europe (March 2007) and the White Paper on Sport (July 2007) presented by the European Commission, stressed the need to combat illicit transfers of foreign minors. The Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Human Trafficking, which entered into force on 1 February The first European treaty in this field, mainly focusing on the protection of victims and safeguards their rights and at the same time, the first legally binding international instrument, which affirms that trafficking constitutes a human right violation and an offense to the dignity and integrity of the human being. The convention aims to prevent trafficking, prosecute traffickers and provides for the setting up of an effective and independent monitoring mechanism capable of controlling the implementation of the obligation contained in the convention. The Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has lay down since 2001 the principle on the prohibition of international transfer of minors maintaining three exceptions (Article 12 and 19 "Protection of minors, including: a) if the parents of the players settled in the country of the new club, for reasons unrelated to football... The conference "Together for the Protection of Young Players in Africa" comes at a time when efforts to protect young players in addition to the fight against child trafficking in Africa are on the verge of being completely annihilated with contradictory sporting measures, namely: - The FIFA Circular n: 1468 that came into force on 1 March 2015, which states: " in order to strengthen the protection of minors and due to the increased number of international transfers of players younger than 12, the FIFA Executive Committee approved a reduction in the age limit for which an international transfer certificate (ITC) is required to the age of 10.

3 - FIFA new Regulation on Working with Intermediaries abolishing the compulsory football agents licensing system, the latter becoming mere intermediaries (since 1 April 2015). The scandal revealed in July 2015 of illegal recruitment and the exploitation of 21 young Liberian players in a professional club in Laos, discovered in slave like conditions, shows the urgent need to take concrete action without delay. We must put a stop to the trafficking of minors from Africa. Quotations "We do not see migration as something harmful. Migration is an opportunity for the countries of origin, for the host countries and migrants. However, we should curb certain phenomena associated with these migrations when undertaken in a non-regulated framework, eg transfers that fail, dropout problems, illegal immigration, abuse of vulnerable situations, it is against these challenges that we must fight". Stanislas Frossard, Executive Secretary of the EPAS, Council of Europe. Conference "Football & Integration", Geneva, 14 May "The actions taken by your association, both in countries of origin and in host countries, contribute to the fight against a particular form of exploitation and human trafficking. However, the necessary establishment of a strict legal framework, must be accompanied by the creation of educational and professional opportunities for young athletes as part of prevention work. Wilfried Lemke, Special Adviser to the United Nations on Sport for Development and Peace, speech at the 2nd international conference of young African footballer. Conference s Objectives Fifteen years after the Bamako conference on "The recruitment of young African soccer players to the benefit of the training centres of foreign professional clubs" (21-22 December 2000), which resulted in the establishment of the very first protection measures of minors in football1, the conference "Together for the Protection of Young Players in Africa" offers a platform bringing collectively governments, NGOs, stakeholders in football and of civil society from Europe and Africa, with the following objectives: Strengthening the fight against the trafficking of young players minors in Africa itself Sharing best practices in the detection, recruitment and promotion of young football talents The conference is chaired by Professor Wladimir Andreff, Emeritus Professor in Economics at the Sorbonne and Mr. Gaston Kelman, French Author. The YOPPA Program The conference "Together for the Protection of Young African Players in Africa" has the major objective to unite participating agencies around Foot Solidaire s YOPPA2 pilot program. The goal of the program is to contribute to the efforts of Governments, sports organisations, clubs and academies of African Football toward the protection of young players, particularly minors. The program's goal is the establishment of a regional information center for young footballers (CIJFOOT) in Dakar and information offices (BIJFOOT) in targeted West African countries3. The CIJFOOT and the BIJFOOT 1 FIFA regulation on the Status of Players and Transfer art.12 and FIFA art.19 Child Protection 2 Young Players Protection in Africa 3 Benin, Burkina Fasso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Togo

4 propose to provide resources, activities and actions specifically dedicated to the protection of young players. The structures will inform young people and parents about football and athletic career, safe and legal migration to Europe, sports rules and up to date practices in international recruitment. The establishment of these structures will enable the young people to make informed decisions about their career options and to build alternative projects. Conference Organiser The conference is an initiative of Foot Solidaire, a nonprofit organisation, which aims to protect young players against violations of their rights and their human dignity during the detection process, recruitment and promotion of sporting talent. Foot Solidaire wants to engage in this project all relevant institutions and organizations interested in Europe and Africa. The association has already organized or co-organised numerous conferences for the protection of young players, including : 2 November 2006: the 1st International Conference of the young African footballer in Enghienles-Bains, France with the presence of UEFA, FARE, CAF, CIES October 2008: 2nd international conference of young African footballer in Yaoundé, Cameroon, with the United Nations, FIFA, FIFPro, UEFA. June 9, 2009: round table in Paris on the theme "Football: protection of young foreign footballers -what solutions?", With FIFA, the French Football Federation and football unions. July 24, 2009: Conference-debate in Bamako (Mali) on the theme of "environment Child Trafficking football", with the support of the Government of Mali and FEMAFOOT January 2012: the 3rd international conference of young African footballer in Lausanne May 13, 2014: The panel discussion on "the true paths of integration and success of young African footballers in Europe", with the Permanent Mission of Italy in Geneva, the African Union and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Program Elements The conference provides: Panels discussions and presentations based on the experience of practitioners from football and civil society. Round tables based on the expertise of the world s sports personalities, political, scientific, economic, and media who will share their vision for the protection of young athletes in terms of a globalised football. They will shed light on strategic issues of sports policies, development and protection of young players and on issues related to the sporting regulations. Testimonies from professional football players, young players, educators and parents. Networking breaks

5 Documentation The conference report will be published on Foot Solidaire website in French and English. It can serve as a starting point for future measures to improve the protection of young players. Date Monday, December 7, 2015: 09: 15-18: 30 Tuesday, December 8, 2015: 09: 30-16: 00 Venue Hotel Terrubi or Radisson (tbc), Dakar, Senegal Working languages French and English (simultaneous translation) Participants: Representatives of governmental organisations and NGO Representatives of public authorities Representatives of sports bodies Representatives of clubs and training academies Academics, researchers, Sports Intermediaries Media Registration and participation Participation in the conference is free. However, those interested must register by completing the registration form on (Subject to availability) Contact Jean Claude MBVOUMIN, Founder - jcmbvoumin@footsolidaire.org Tel: Cherifa ATOUSSI, Foot Solidaire UK - cherifa_atoussi@yahoo.com Tel: Victorine LIBII, Head of Events: victorine.libii@footsolidaire.org Tel: Website: