Looking at the Anti-Doping Regime Through a Human Rights Lens

This chapter describes and analyses Article 8 (right to a private life), Article 6 (right to a fair trial) and Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention of Human Rights. The analysis is applied to the anti-doping regime under WADA. The discussion is mainly built upon primary sources such as legal texts and case law. Within the wide spectrum of Article 8, WADA’s anti-doping rules such as the out-of-competition requirement, the whereabouts rule restrict the athletes’ right to a private life. Moreover, gathering blood and urine is highly invasive, and WADA’s lack of evaluation of other forms of testing is problematic. The effectiveness of biological passports is also tested, but found wanting due to lack of reliable data to demonstrate otherwise. The question of proportionality and necessity may also be problematic to WADA’s rules and their application, as it makes no effort to distinguish between sports and athletes. Article 6 is discussed within the context of the leading cases on the matter, which challenge the independence and impartiality of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the right to a public hearing and the presumption of innocence. Lastly, Article 14 has not been directly applied to doping cases, but the fear of unequal treatment on the basis of gender and nationality continue to be raised, alongside the questions around the entangled Paralympic system and the distinctions between disabled and non-disabled athletes. This chapter will discuss the applicability of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) on the anti-doping framework. First, Sect. 4.1 will give a brief introduction on the role and effect of this Convention. Subsequently, this chapter will focus on three rights contained therein, which may have an impact on the anti-doping context. This chapter will move beyond the gathering, storing and sharing of personal data as such, and will focus instead on the right to bodily integrity as protected under Article 8 ECHR (Sect. 4.2), containing the right to privacy, on the right to a fair trial, as protected under Article 6 ECHR (Sect. 4.3), and the right to non-discrimination, Article 14 ECHR (Sect. 4.4). The chapter will conclude with a brief conclusion (Sect. 4.5).