The coordination of youth, the fight against violence against women and human trafficking, with the technical support and intervention of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and funding from the US government through the USAID organized, this Wednesday, June 21, an awareness day on gender-based violence (GBV) and human trafficking in the sports sector in the DRC.
In a country where sport is very popular, there is real fear of this problem. This is why a “Red Card” campaign against sexual abuse in sports has been launched. The aim is to raise awareness among federations, clubs, journalists and artists about violence against young athletes.
The awareness day thus brought together the leaders of the federations and clubs, around fifty people, and around ten journalists, players and renowned artists, i.e. 70 people in total. The boxing champion, Junior Makabu, was present.
Cases of sexual abuse and gender-based violence in the sports world have been reported by the press. The figures are alarming and show moral harassment of young people, which goes as far as sexual violence, rape, exploitation, trafficking and trafficking of young people. The trainers, coaches, owners or initiators of the clubs of the various sports federations are implicated. In this context, the Congolese football federation, for example, has not remained indifferent to this problem, but the sports system of the DRC as a whole is shaken.
The Technical Advisor to IOM, Ely Thélot, said that IOM is very concerned about the practices that are developing in this sports environment in the DRC which, moreover, is a respectful environment. At the same time, there are human traffickers who take advantage of the visibility of all that is positive in the sports sector to seek victims. IOM wants to accompany these victims who, in many situations, are unaware that they are victims and protect them against the executioners.
With a view to blocking the way to any corruption of good morals within these respective communities, the coordinator Chantal Yelu Mulop suggested that the whole community should rise up and fight effectively against all forms of sexual and gender-based violence. on gender to offer children, girls and boys who work in the sports sector, a serene and fulfilling career in what they undertake.
To conclude, it is therefore essential to put in place more necessary and strengthened measures to combat gender-based violence (GBV) and human trafficking in sports circles in the Democratic Republic of Congo.. The challenges are numerous but it is urgent to overcome them to guarantee the safety and development of young Congolese athletes.