Human Rights Commission: "Student Athletes in Intense Competition and Excessive Training... Need to Address Protection Blind Spots"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The National Human Rights Commission has recommended related organizations to establish a management and supervision system for personal coaches of student athletes in elementary, middle, and high schools, and to prepare institutional improvement measures to protect the human rights of student athletes.

On the 19th, the Human Rights Commission presented improvement recommendations consisting of three themes: ▲expanding the safety net for protecting student athletes' human rights ▲preventing human rights violations against student athletes ▲strengthening responses to violence and sexual violence against student athletes. The Commission diagnosed that "the dual legal structure under the 'National Sports Promotion Act' and the 'School Sports Promotion Act' creates a barrier between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Education, which results in blind spots in protecting the human rights of student athletes."

The current human rights protection system for student athletes is operated centered on schools. Student athletes who train outside of school under the guidance of personal coaches are more vulnerable to physical violence and infringement of their right to learn, but there is not even a basic understanding of the status of personal coaches. The Human Rights Commission recommended that the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the President of the Korea Sports Council establish a management and supervision system for personal coaches so that student athletes can receive sufficient protection regardless of their training method or location, and promote amendments to related laws for student athletes training at sports facilities outside of school.

The Commission also pointed out that student athletes face human rights violations due to class absences and excessive long hours of training. Accordingly, to guarantee the right to education for student athletes, it recommended that the Minister of Education and the superintendents of education in cities and provinces improve the selection of sports-specialized students and the evaluation methods of coaches.

It was analyzed that student athletes depend mostly on their fellow athletes and coaches in daily life, making it difficult to actively respond to human rights violations such as violence and sexual violence. The Human Rights Commission recommended that each institution strive to build a more open training environment so that student athletes are not isolated in a closed environment and remain silent, and strengthen education on response measures by type of perpetrator and reporting methods.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.