NOC launches ‘Harassment is No Game’ campaign

Sports
By Editor_1
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By A Special Correspondent

COLOMBO – In a proactive bid to eradicate harassment at all levels of the sports arena in the country, the Women’s Committee of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) headed by a former national golfer Niloo Jayatilaka officially launched its ‘Harassment is No Game’ campaign via a Facebook Live Event on its official Facebook page.

The campaign organizers are looking to address all forms of harassment including mental, physical, verbal and sexual abuse to bullying that takes place in the sports community in the country. Harassment could manifest in the form of actions calculated to trigger stress and trauma, demeaning language and behaviour, bodily harm, inappropriate sharp language, inappropriate touch and comments, and unsolicited sexual expressions.

“Our fundamental aim is to eradicate harassment in sports among the athletes across the nation and create a safe space in which athletes can perfect their craft. The first phase of this campaign will focus on educating all entities involved, including the public. Afterwards, we plan to set up a system that enables whistle-blowers to communicate with a designated unit. We are confident that this will trigger a feasible and effective process to establish the authenticity of complaints, understand the facts and work on resolving the issues promptly,” stated Jayatilaka.

‘Harassment is No Game’ campaign wishes to reach out to every corner of the island and educate the public and involved parties to observe, learn and inform the special unit to end all forms of abuse and maltreatment of athletes.

“We firmly believe that sexual harassment and abuse in sports and any kind of harassment related to sexual, physical, mental or verbal abuse is a no go in sports. We as a committee are empowered and endeavour to carry the message to our athletes in our country. We feel that our goal set is to pass the message like the West has done with the Olympic Movement and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) carrying out the message to their athletes,” she said.

“We have initiated the campaign ‘Harassment is No Game’. That is the message we want our Sri Lankan athletes to hear. In doing so we have developed this campaign in three languages – Tamil, Sinhala and English to reach the far corners of our island since all our athletes are placed in different parts of our country,” she added.

The Committee has set up a special team to investigate reports of harassment and pursue appropriate action immediately. It comprises eminent personalities such as Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala, a women’s rights activist with 15 years of experience in the field of women’s rights and gender equality; Diordre Croos Moraes, a qualified trainer on occupational ‘stress management’ and ‘critical incident stress management’; Dillai Joseph Rodrigo, an artist cum entrepreneur; Sharanya Sekaram, a writer, researcher and activist; Caryll Tozer, a former athlete and netball star; Preethi Adhihetty, an attorney-at-law; veteran journalist Nedra Wickremasinghe; Sabrina Esufally, a graduate from Harvard Law School; Shyamala Gomez, a Human Rights lawyer and Women’s Rights activist; and former national athlete Dr. Nihal de Silva.

Just over a year after having established the country’s first-ever Sexual Harassment and Abuse Prevention Policy (SHAP) for sports, this campaign will be the first step in eradicating harassment and protecting sportsmen and women.

“The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka yet again has come up with the most important thing. Last six months during the pandemic the entire world was starving and waiting for sports to come back which is one of the most important things in the world. Having said that, sports has so many ups and downs. Today we are taking up the downside of the sport which is harassment. In other words we are talking of safe sport. One of them is sexual harassment,” said NOCSL President Suresh Subramaniam.

“The IOC insists that in Sri Lanka every sportsman and sportswoman and children are safeguarded from this. As administrators we have to be mindful that we have children who are coming up who represent the country. We must create a path where everything is equal and safe in every aspect,” he said.

President of Sri Lanka Baseball and the Director of West Asia Baseball, Fazil M. Hussain who is a member of the NOCSL’s Women’s Committee said “harassment is not acceptable and should not be tolerated in any form in any sport.”

“Various testimonies and research demonstrate that harassment and abuse happen in all sports and at all levels due to the lack of safeguarding policies and procedures for athletes. The IOC consensus statement in the year 2016 identifies six main forms of harassment and abuse: Psychological, sexual, harassment, neglect, physical and discrimination. Recognition and focus on harassment in sport has increased over the past years as it has a serious and negative impact on the athletes’ physical and psychological health as well as their mental wellbeing,” he pointed out.

‘Harassment is No Game’ Campaign Ambassador, Susanthika Jayasinghe said addressing harassment is a timely and important topic.

“All forms of harassment undermine human dignity and trigger devastating effects on a person’s self-worth, mental and physical wellbeing. Sports should promote a life-enhancing culture where everyone involved enjoys the right to become happy and fulfilled individuals. Unfortunately, harassment in the sports world is more prevalent than most people imagine. Hence, we’ve decided to nurture a culture that understands, accepts and takes action to help each and every sportsman and woman,” she stated.

“I can speak from experience because when I was a child, I​​ experienced it. We have to safeguard the future of talented athletes who may lack education and are not aware of predators in society. My aim is to protect the future generation especially women. They should not be exploited. ‘Harassment is No Game’ campaign is a good message and platform to protect the children from abuse which has spread in the world like COVID-19. We should educate them on what is right and wrong to make their future successful,” said Sri Lanka’s Olympic silver medallist Jayasinghe.

-ENCL

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