Social Responsibility and Sport: The Political Initiatives

Abstract

Over the last twenty years, the UN has been paying close attention to sport in the form of both competitive sport and simple physical activity, so as to be recognized as a fundamental human right. In addition, sport has been acknowledged as an effective and economic means for peace and human development in several key UN documents and declarations. The contents of these documents are therefore examined in the first part of this chapter in order to point out the social function of sport and, in particular, the contribution of sport in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. To this end, some initiatives taken by the European Union in the field of sports are equally significant. The reference point for these dates back to the mid-seventies and, in particular, to the launch in 1975 of the “European Sport for All Charter”, a document whose principles inspired the subsequent initiatives promoted within the European Community. They are summarized in the following documents, discussed in the last part of the chapter: the “European Sport Charter” and the “Code of Sport Ethics”, the “Helsinki Report on sport” and the most recent “White Paper on sport”. These documents make it possible to outline not only the commitments that the European Community and national governments have undertaken in promoting the social function of sport, but also the specific features of CSR in the sports world, which is the subject analyzed in the Chap. 5.