Using Charters and Standards to Promote Anti-Racism in Sport

Abstract

Arguably any moral project implies a set of standards. In the initiatives considered here, those standards have been highly formalised (some would say excessively bureaucratised) to try and establish a set of common expectations in promoting equality. As such they may be seen to take their lead from deontology (rather than the virtue ethical approach articulated by McNamee, 2008) which argues from the basis of ‘duties’: duties like preventing harm to others, safeguarding welfare, respect and ensuring equality. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) affirmed:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.