Glasgow 2014, Scottish sport and human rights

Mega sporting events (MSEs) in Scotland have a significant opportunity to promote human rights. The scale, reach and popularity of sport make it a significant contemporary tool in the enabling of human rights and other sporting outcomes. The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games was the first Commonwealth Games to adopt a human rights policy. The aim of this chapter is to consider the Glasgow 2014 approach to human rights as a basis for reflecting further upon Scottish sport and human rights in Scotland. The chapter will discuss what human rights lessons can be learned from this major sporting event. In a tense world there is a need for politically smarter ways of deepening commitments to human rights. The chapter suggests that an opportunity exists for Scottish sport and sport in general to be part of an essential toolbox involved in the construction of not just a better sports system but also non-sporting outcomes.