Human rights are one of the priorities for France’s foreign policy. Human rights in France are contained in the preamble of the Constitution of the French Fifth Republic, founded in 1958, and the 1789 Declaration of the Human Rights of the Citizen. France has also ratified the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights 1960 and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (2000). More research is needed concerning France’s human rights role during colonial times.

Sport could constitute a fundamental right if it were constitutionally guaranteed, as it is in several European countries. It falls to the entire sports movement as well as the legal system for the dissemination of fundamental rights through sports regulations and jurisprudence. France recently adopted a law on ethics, regulation, and transparency in sport in which the right to image for professional athletes is enshrined. 

A seminar on “Human Rights in Sport” was held in Strasbourg on 20 November 2019, organised by the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport EPAS. The general aims of the seminar were to:

• share information on recent institutional developments;  
• make aware of and train on available tools;  
• agree on the next steps for EPAS in the field of human rights and sport