At the Second World Summit for Social Development, H.E. Ambassador Claudia Fuentes Julio, Chair of Alliance 8.7 and Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations in Geneva, addressed a high-level side event titled “Copenhagen to Doha: Tackling vulnerability and exploitation linked to sport – supporting safe and inclusive pathways for youth to realise their dreams.”
The event was co-organised by the Permanent Mission of Monaco, the State of Qatar, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and Mission 89. It convened governments, UN agencies, sport federations, civil society, and young athletes to address the growing risks of trafficking and exploitation in and around sport.
Sport: a double-edged pathway
Ambassador Fuentes Julio warned that while sport can empower youth and foster inclusion, it can also be misused as a conduit for exploitation. “We face a serious challenge,” she stated, citing the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, which indicate that 50 million people live in modern slavery, including 3.3 million children in forced labour.
She highlighted that the SDG target to end child labour by 2025 will not be met, with 138 million children still in child labour worldwide, and called for urgent action to reverse these trends through education, fair recruitment, and social protection.
Alliance 8.7: a platform for collective impact
The Ambassador underscored Alliance 8.7’s role as a global partnership uniting over 400 stakeholders to accelerate progress towards SDG Target 8.7. She encouraged stakeholders in the sport sector to engage with the Alliance’s Pathfinder Country process, which supports national roadmaps to eliminate child labour, forced labour, and human trafficking.
She stressed the importance of breaking down silos between efforts to end child labour and forced labour, and urged collaboration to address trafficking risks in sport.
Ambassador Fuentes Julio pointed to the upcoming Sixth Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour in Marrakech (February 2026) as a critical opportunity to renew global commitment and tackle root causes such as lack of decent work, education, and social protection.
The event concluded with a collective call to action to integrate anti-trafficking safeguards into sport and youth development programmes, and to build inclusive, resilient communities where every young person can thrive.
