1. Introduction

Flint Town United Football Club believes it is essential to underline the importance of the connections between football and human rights, and the Club’s Football & Social Responsibility strategy (FSR) recognises the Club’s role in embodying and nurturing respect, inclusion and sustainability.

This document identifies the human rights associated with football and highlights the Club’s commitment to ensuring that its activities and actions reflect these rights and engage the Club’s community on these important topics.

Flint Town United Football Club bases its approach on the United Nations International Bill of Human Rights, specifically focusing on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Flint Town United Football Club also refers to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. (1)

This human rights commitment will be the basis on which the Club strives to ensure safe and fair access to the game, as well as secure and inclusive working environments throughout the Club. Flint Town United Football Club will also support and highlight the right of each individual to be involved in football as their authentic self, adding diversity and value to the game at all levels.

2. Scope

Part of Flint Town United Football Club’s role is to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Club including the players, coaches, officials and all others involved.

The Club and its community will continue to flourish as long as the Club maintains a broad dialogue and democratic values. Flint Town United Football Club relies on all its members to make the Club inclusive and welcoming to all. With the support of the Club community, the Club hopes to advance human rights in football and its activities.

Football is an interaction between the game itself, organisations and the individuals within it. Its commitment will focus on events, activities, and organisational procedures, but will include work to engage all partners and individuals in dialogue and actions throughout the game.

This Human Rights Commitment will guide the Club in its work as an employer and in all its activities. However, as the Club has a global reach, through international competitions the Human Rights Commitment will extend to all relations globally.

The Club recognises that there are limitations to the impact it can have on national, governmental, and political actions. Its commitment, therefore, focuses on using football as a platform to promote human rights through the power of football.

3. Objectives

As a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations (2), human rights have become the benchmark that nations, organisations and individuals aspire to protect people everywhere from severe political, legal, and social abuse.

At Flint Town United Football Club, human rights are defined as the moral principles according to which we should conduct all activities and relations. We, therefore, recognise the International Bill of Human Rights (3), with a specific focus on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (4), whose preamble states that:

Flint Town United Football Club’s recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Adopted by the UN General Assembly resolution 217 A (III), 10 December 1948)

Flint Town United Football Club’s objective is as follows:

In line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Club’s Human Rights Commitment aims to ensure that dignity, respect and equal rights and opportunities are afforded to everyone involved in football in a spirit of freedom and justice.

This means that football is a sport that welcomes everyone, with equal access, in a safe and secure environment. Flint Town United Football Club strives for an inclusive culture in which no one is discriminated against or excluded based on any personal characteristics, whether playing, coaching, refereeing or organising the game and including all aspects of the game itself and any activities connected to it.

In addition to this, The Club aspires for football to be a vehicle for human rights in broader society, engaging society and governments on key topics and providing information and education.

4. Flint Town United Football Club Commitment

Flint Town United Football Club commits to running its organisation, activities and relations in accordance with this document, striving for consistent progress in its Football & Social Responsibility initiatives.

As a further action, the Club will leverage its communications channels to raise awareness of human rights issues.

To fulfil its responsibility regarding human rights and promote the standards set out in all declarations, guiding principles and covenants referenced in section 5, this document will serve as the basis for a human rights policy, which will take account of the Club’s Football & Social Responsibility Strategy.

Responsibility for developing and implementing initiatives based on this commitment lies with the Club’s Football & Social Responsibility Officer. The Club will consult with internal and external stakeholders and will commit resources to meet the objectives set out in section 3.

To ensure transparency, the progress on all human rights issues will be included in the annual FSR Strategy report, which is available to the general public.

5. Human rights references

This section lists the declarations, articles and conventions that relate to the Club’s human rights objective (section 3).

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (5)

• Article 1: 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.

• Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

• Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

• Article 6: Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

• Article 7: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

• Article 8: Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

• Article 13:

– 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

– 2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

• Article 14:

– 1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

– 2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

• Article 18: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

• Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

• Article 20:

– 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

– 2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

• Article 23:

– 1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

– 2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

– 3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

– 4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

• Article 24: Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

• Article 25:

– 1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

– 2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

• Article 27:

– 1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

– 2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

• Article 30: Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

While this is a list of articles with clear connections to the Club’s FSR Strategy all articles of the declaration are to be recognised and respected in all of the Club’s activities.

The following is a list of other relevant declarations, guiding principles and conventions:

• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (6) – Recognising that, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ideal of free human beings enjoying freedom from fear and want can only be achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his economic, social and cultural rights, as well as his civil and political rights

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (7) – Recognising that, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ideal of free human beings enjoying civil and political freedom and freedom from fear and want can only be achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his civil and political rights, as well as his economic, social and cultural rights,

• UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (8) – States have a duty to protect people against human rights abuses by third parties, and are expected to prevent, investigate, punish and redress abuses through appropriate policies, legislation, regulation and adjudication. For their part, businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights. It should address adverse human rights impacts that may result from its own activities and its business relationships. Lastly, affected people must be able to access remedies. Both states and businesses have roles to play in ensuring access to remedies when negative impacts occur.
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (9) – Bearing in mind that, as indicated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”,

– Article 3.2: States Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her well-being, taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents, legal guardians, or other individuals legally responsible for him or her, and, to this end, shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures.

• The Club also recognises the importance of the European Convention on Human Rights (10) and the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (11).

6. Conclusion

The Clubs Human Rights Commitment, with its stated scope and objectives, will be reviewed and updated annually.

Current version of the Human Rights Commitment was approved by the Clubs Board on 08/03/2023