Within the European project VOICE, which focuses on combating sexual violence and harassment in sport, the national forums started to be staged across Europe.

On March 29, 2017, the first national/regional Acknowledgement Forum was held in Barcelona, Spain. In the upcoming period, similar events will be held on May 10 in Denmark, June 1 in Vienna, June 15 in Derby, June 24 in Frankfurt, and in the fall the forums in Belgium, Slovenia and Hungary will unfold.

The Spanish Acknowledgement Forum took place at the Melcior Museum in Barcelona on Wednesday 29th of March 2017 with participants from eight regional sport Federations and two Spanish Federations, county sport organisations, political institutions like and university representations from Catalonia and the Basque Country within the world of sport sciences. In total, 20 different institutions were represented in the Forum. The purpose of which was to give voice to those Spanish ex-sport people who have suffered sexual violence in the context of the sport and bring their experiences out into society. At the Forum, also survivors’ stories were heard, protecting their identities; no names, no sports, no places were mentioned, and no press was allowed in the room. The important issue for the Forum was to disclose the fact that these practices unfortunately have taken and do take place in sport. To learn from these incidents, to understand how they took place in order to allow people to detect, act upon and prevent them.



The project, lead by German Sport University Cologne, promotes safe sporting environments and freedom from harassment, violence, exploitation and abuse through research and by listening to voices of those affected. European University Sports Association (EUSA) is one of the sports partners in the project. Participants of the EUSA Conference will also have a chance to get to know more information about the VOICE project during the event on April 7-8 in Coimbra.



Project consortium is still looking for organisations to support the initiative and activities, as well as individuals affected by sexual violence or abuse in the context of sport or physical education. If you have been affected, or know somebody who has been, we would like to hear from you. We especially invite individuals living in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain and United Kingdom (project partner countries) to contact the researchers in these countries, helping us share the story and conduct a European research study. All contacts are strictly confidential and identity of participants taking part in a research interview is protected.



VOICE project is funded through the EU Erasmus+ programme, under collaborative partnerships in sport. For more information, please see www.voicesfortruthanddignity.eu and/or check out the March newsletter.