The Duty of Engagement: An Analysis of the 2016 European Convention on an Integrated Safety, Security and Service Approach at Football Matches and Other Events

Safety and security concerns in the context of sporting events and, in particular, football, have existed for decades. This has led to responses from individual countries as well as on a supranational level through, for example, the Council of Europe (CoE) conventions. In this article, we critically analyse the CoE’s2016 Convention on an Integrated Safety, Security and Service Approach atFootball Matches and Other Sports Events (CETS, No.218). Hitherto, few analyses have concentrated on the scope and impacts of the Convention. Thus, this article first asks how contracting states should implement Article 8 of the Convention which enshrines a duty of engagement. Second, it questions how the Convention plays into the wider embrace of human rights in contemporary sport settings. The unfolding argument is that the Convention has been comparably under-researched within the literature on both human rights and sport mega-events and football-related legal analyses. Moreover, we argue that the Convention contains much potential for driving forward a more visible engagement with human rights law within a sporting context. In particular, Article 8, which enshrines a duty of engagement has the potential to foster a robust and transformative human rights compliant culture within the context of sport.