Human Rights Forum Shopping in Transnational Sport Disputes

Authors

Ilias Bantekas

First Page

1

Abstract

Professional athletes must adhere to the dispute resolution mechanisms contained in their agreements with sport governing bodies (SGBs). These typically provide for SGB institutional arbitration with appeals against such awards to CAS, although in some instances direct recourse to CAS is also possible. These mechanisms do not cater for attendant human rights claims arising from the underlying dispute. This article suggests that a variety of sui generis forum shopping possibilities are available to address this deficit. Applicants may approach national courts with a sufficient jurisdictional link to the SGB in question by raising constitutional (and by extension human rights) and tort claims. Equally, applicants may approach regional economic integration tribunals, chiefly the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and link their claims to anti-trust or other similar infringements, which has shown to force the CJEU to address underlying human rights issues. Where applicants follow their agreement with the SGB, they may well intimate that CAS or the institutional tribunal adhere to the forum’s lex arbitri, which essentially contains a plethora of human rights obligations under treaty or custom. Even if such an argument were to fail, the appellant can approach the forum’s competent court and request that the CAS or institutional award be set aside on the ground that it failed to respect the forum’s public policy, of which human rights constitutes an integral part.

Recommended Citation

Ilias Bantekas, Human Rights Forum Shopping in Transnational Sport Disputes, 50 Brook. J. Int'l L. 1 (2024).
Available at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/bjil/vol50/iss1/1