Centre for Sport and Human Rights grows team, adding expertise on child safeguarding and protection

The Centre is pleased to welcome Sarah Stevenson to the team in the important new role of Head of Child Safeguarding and Protection. A Canadian national, Sarah is based in New York where she most recently led the development of the child safeguarding policy and procedures for the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. Sarah was also previously the UN Representative of ChildFund Alliance. Dorothy Rozga, the Centre's Head of Child Rights, noted:

"The Centre is committed to ending violations of children’s rights in and through sport. To achieve this requires for all children to be safeguarded and protected in the sport environment.  We're delighted that Sarah is joining us to take forward our work in this area and to support collective actions towards ensuring that sport is safe for children."

In addition, the Centre has grown its roster of affiliated senior experts who assist in providing regular strategic advice on an ad hoc basis to CEO Mary Harvey. We are pleased to welcome the following as Special Advisors: 

• Dr. Olawale Maiyegun (former Head of Social Affairs at the African Union, and former Nigerian Ambassador to the UN in Vienna); 
• Dr. Maja Zalaznik (former Slovenian Minister of Education, Science and Sport)
• Martin Gibbs (former Director-General of Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for cycling)
• Dr. Annie Sparrow (a global health specialist and advisor to the Director-General of the World Health Organisation)
• Kat Craig (Founder of Athlead and former Legal Director of Reprieve).

They join long-standing Special Advisors David Rutherford (former CEO of New Zealand Rugby and former Chief Commissioner of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission) and Lucy Amis (Child Rights and Sport Specialist at Unicef UK) in supporting the Centre’s work, and Legal & Governance Advisor David Alfrey who has joined the Centre on secondment from Clifford Chance LLP.

The Centre has also added two new independent Trustees of its UK Charity. Moya Dodd and Tim Soutar have been appointed to the board to help navigate the Centre’s separation from its parent charity IHRB and its move to becoming an independent Swiss Association in 2021. A former Australian international footballer, Moya has served on the FIFA Council (as one of the first three women in 108 years), the AFC Executive Committee, and Football Federation Australia's board. She is a current member of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport, the IOC Athlete's Entourage Commission, and FIFA's Player Status Committee. She also chairs Common Goal. A long-standing Trustee of the International Lawyers Project, Tim is an expert on corporate, charity and sports governance. He chairs the Governance Committee of England Athletics and is a former Chair of the Pro Bono & Access to Justice Committee at the International Bar Association. Moya and Tim join the Centre’s current IHRB-appointed board members Rae Lindsay, Frances House and Ron Popper. The Centre will shortly be running a process to appoint a new board of directors and become fully independent from IHRB as an Association based in Geneva.

CEO Mary Harvey noted:

"The calibre of those working for, with, and in the governance of the Centre adds greatly to our capacity, and supports our mission of serving affected people impacted by the world of sport, and ensuring that sport lives up to its values. We're delighted to welcome Sarah Stevenson and David Alfrey to our team, and are deeply grateful to our Trustees and Special Advisors who each serve the Centre in their own time and with great commitment and support for our mission."