This statement answers the questionnaire sent by the Human Rights Council Advisory
Committee about the promotion of human rights through sport and the Olympic ideal,
pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 24/1.
(i) How is sport used in your country to promote human rights? What are the best practices
being applied?
(ii) Which are the possibilities of using sport and the Olympic ideal to strengthen respect for
human rights?
(iii) What are the sports practiced in your country and how far are they inclusive (for women,
youth, vulnerable groups etc.)?
(iv) In what way can sport and the Olympic ideal become a means to:
a)Advance the cause of peace?
b)Promote development?
c)Combat all forms of discrimination?
"Sport is critical to a child's development. It teaches core values such as co-operation and
respect. It improves health and reduces the likelihood of disease. It is a significant economic
force providing employment and contributing to local development. And, it brings
individuals and communities together, bridging cultural and ethnic divides". This perspective
of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace Report
of 2003 is also shared by the Brazilian government.
According to the Sport Atlas in Brazil, the ten sports most practiced by Brazilians are football
(soccer), volleyball, table tennis, swimming, futsal, capoeira, surf, judo, and athletics.
The Federal Constitution establishes the promotion of the right of every citizen to practice
sports as a State`s duty, and calls on public authorities to create the means for the fulfilment
of such a right. Article 217 establishes that "it is the duty of the State to foster the practice of
formal and informal sports (.)".
The enactment of Law No 10.264/2001 was an important initiative for the development of
sports in Brazil, fostering the independence of Sport Administration Bodies in the country.
Likewise, Law No 10.891/2004, known as "Bolsa Atleta" (or "Athlete Stipend"), which
provides financial aid to athletes, from beginners to Olympic and Paralympic ones, has also
represented an important step for the development of the practice of sports in Brazil.
Great progress was made at the 2nd National Conference on Sport, in 2005, when a
Resolution proposing the creation of the National System of Sport and Leisure was adopted,
based on the cooperation among the Federal Union, the States and Municipalities,
consolidating sports and leisure as social rights, in the light of the principles of
democratization and social inclusion. Resolution No 5, enacted on June 14, 2005, by the
Ministry of Sport, established the National Sport Policy and recognized, in its preamble, the
"access to sport as a right to be guaranteed to the Brazilian citizen".
The Brazilian government, through the Ministry of Sport, is also acting through the
promotion of networks involving research groups, higher education institutions, research
institutes and scientific community centres, as well as through the creation of Recreational
Sport and Leisure Centres ("CEDES" Network) and Centres of Sport Excellence ("CENESP"
Network). It also promotes the development of sports science and technology, methodologies
about sportive and playful education, theory and practice of sports training and sports
excellence. Besides, the government has been working on the assessment of public policies
for sport and leisure, on protocols to monitor the implementation of projects and on the
training of personnel for sports and leisure activities, among other initiatives.
The basic principle of the National Policy is to place sport as a matter of national interest,
with the objective of developing the nation and strengthening cultural identity and social
inclusion. The actions carried out by the Ministry of Sport have a wide scope and take into
account the fulfilment of a set of economic, social and cultural rights, the rights to education,
health, work, adequate housing, social security, protection to motherhood and childhood, and
assistance to underprivileged people. Furthermore, the objectives and guidelines of the
National Policy are founded on the promotion of development and the fight against inequality
and discrimination of any kind. Brazil believes that every person, without any distinction,
exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin,
or any other status, must be able to enjoy the right to practice sport in its different dimensions
and manifestations. The government is also aware that specific conditions should be met in
order to reach the Policy's goals while dealing with such social diversity.
In order to put it into practice, the National Plan for Sports was divided into four axes
constituted by a number of actions: i) Social inclusion through Sport (actions: Second Period
("Programa Segundo Tempo"); Painting Liberty and Painting Citizenship; Sport and Leisure
in the City); ii) Development of Performance Sport (actions: Brazil in High-Performance
Sport; Football: Brazilian Heritage; Promotion of Sport Mega-Events); 3) Sports
Infrastructure (action: Sports and Leisure Equipment); and 4) Institutional Development
(actions: National System of Sport and Leisure, Financing, Sport Industry in Brazil).
The National Plan highlights the importance of sport as a tool for peace and social inclusion,
underlining that "Some core values that can be learned through sports are necessary for
development and peace. Thus, without idealizing sport`s power to create bounds, we are of
the view that disagreements resulting from conflicting social relations should be worked out
in a joint effort by public policy agents who can use sport as a potential tool to create values,
such as respect to agreed rules, cooperation, solidarity, tolerance, esprit de corps and
perseverance."
As regards good sports practices for the promotion of social inclusion and human rights, the
Programme Second Period is one of the most successful initiatives, offering children,
adolescents and young people access to sports activities during their time off school,
contributing to their full education, by improving their quality of life, health, human
development and social inclusion.
According to the message sent by President Dilma Rousseff to the Brazilian Congress in
early 2014, the Programme benefited 4.5 million people and 25,171 schools, in more than 3.6
thousand municipalities. The Programme also set up partnerships in order to make the most
out of the legacy of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in the host cities and their metropolitan
regions, so as to benefit 68,550 people in 490 centres which are being created with state and
municipal authorities.
The Programme known as "Forces in Sport" is also worth mentioning. Under this initiative,
12,000 children and adolescents aged between 7 and 17 years old enjoy the sport
infrastructure of the Armed Forces and take extra classes, music lessons, and participate in
digital inclusion initiatives and preparatory courses for the labour market. Priority is given to
children enrolled in public schools.
The Programme Sport and Leisure in the City benefited, in 2013, 34,600 youngsters and
adults, in 103 centres in different regions of Brazil, with the purpose of ensuring the right to
benefit from public policies of recreational sports and leisure. Four of these centres were
created for traditional communities, such as indigenous peoples and "quilombolas" (rural
afro-descendent communities).
The Programme Healthy Life, which promotes access of people over 60 years old to the
practice of physical, cultural and leisure activities, reached the mark of 22 centers for 6.6
thousand beneficiaries, through partnerships with municipalities and federal institutions of
higher education.
These and other programmes are comprised in the Programmatic Actions of the Third
National Program for Human Rights (PNDH-3). Under Axis 3 (Universalizing Rights in a
Context of Inequalities), Guideline 7 (Human Rights in a universal, indivisible and
interdependent way, ensuring full social inclusion), Objective VIII (Promotion of the right to
culture, leisure and sport), PNDH-3 establishes the following three specific actions:
I) Boosting public policies on sport and leisure, taking into account local diversities, in order
to serve all age and social groups;
II) Boosting public policies on professional training in sport and leisure, with focus on the
cooperation among different sectors, community action, integration of generations and
cultural diversity;
III) Strengthening and expanding programmes which include the participation of elderly
people in sport and leisure activities.
Moreover, the National Council on the Rights of the Child and the Adolescent (CONANDA)
and the Ministry of Sport established a partnership for the creation of the Committee on
Social Sport Projects and for the funding of sport projects to children and adolescents,
financed by the National Fund for Children and Adolescents (FNCA).
As for the inclusion of women in sports, the Secretariat of Policies for Women of the
President's Office, along with the Ministry of Sport, held the first seminar about "Women,
Sport, Leisure and Public Policies", in July, 2013, prior to the FIFA Confederations Cup.
The seminar promoted discussions about topics such as "Public policies on sport and leisure:
quality of life, human development and social inclusion to Brazilian women"; "High-
performance sports: equal conditions and opportunities to women and men",
"Professionalization in sports: women as athletes, referees, coaches, trainers and managers";
"Mega sport events: challenges and opportunities for women", inter alia.
The seminar aimed at promoting and deepening the knowledge regarding women in sports
and leisure, taking into account the growing participation of Brazilian women in the area. It
took into consideration the fact that Brazil was the host country of the 2014 FIFA World Cup
and will also host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games, as well as the Brazilian
Under-17 Women`s Soccer School Cup, Under-17 Women`s Soccer Public Schools Cup in
the 27 units of the Federation, Brazilian Universities Cup and Women`s Soccer Libertadores
Cup.
The President' Office, in its Message to Congress, in 2014, also stated the government's
intention to promote a study on Women's Soccer, which will provide inputs for the
implementation of public policies for strengthening women's soccer.
The Brazilian government has also sought to expand the support for the practice of sports by
persons with disabilities, mainly with the adoption of programmes for the implementation
and operation of centres of high-performance sports together with universities and sport
secretariats in states and municipalities. In these centres, many new athletes have been
discovered, and joined Brazilian national teams in different sport styles, which positively
affected the results and ranking of Brazil in the world paralympic sports.
Furthermore, support to the promotion and organization of national sport events was
enhanced, as well as the participation of Brazilian national teams in international high-
performance competitions for people with disabilities. This was of utmost importance for
training new athletes in individual and collective sports.
Since the creation of the Programme Bolsa Atleta, in 2005, around 30% of the financial help
given by the Ministry of Sport have benefited athletes with disabilities. According to their
profiles, athletes have received either paralympic, international, national, or student
scholarships. Besides, there has been an increase in the number of Paralympic athletes who
receive scholarships. At Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games, 50% of the
Brazilian paralympic team was formed by athletes with scholarships, and, at London 2012
Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games, when Brazil obtained its highest number of
medals, this reached 80% of our Paralympic team.
The incentive to the practice of high-performance paralympic sports has helped to change
attitudes, in the sense that Paralympic athletes have the potential to become role models of
inclusion and challenge overcome when given equal opportunities.
As for elderly people, the aforementioned Programme Healthy Life promotes the practice of
physical, cultural, leisure activities among people over 60 years old.
The Sport National Policy also sets the goal of creating sports and leisure centres at the state
and municipal levels for people with disabilities, elderly people, obese people, among others.
(v) What kinds of challenges are faced in the promotion of human rights through sport and
the Olympic ideal?
The National Policy intends to overcome some of the difficulties created by the classification
of sports in categories, such as "educational sport", "participative sport" and "performance
sport", according to Law No 9,615, enacted in 1998. Such categorization has legitimized a
hierarchy, which reflected beliefs of the past but may create some difficulties to meet the
priorities set by the aforementioned policy.
The greatest current challenge is to make progress in structuring the Brazilian Sports System.
(vi) How can the media help in the promotion of human rights through sport and the Olympic
ideal?
In the olympic and paralympic field, expanding the coverage of sport events with a special
attention to people with disabilities, particularly through the use of available accessibility
resources, would represent an important contribution the media could offer for the promotion
of human rights through sport and the Olympic ideal.