A/79/299 and teams; and in efforts to ensure the visibility of sporting events, either through local media outlets or by engaging in fan activities. 32. Action plans may help States to ensure that a certain level of participation in sport is ensured for all, including specific parts of the population, such as women and girls, persons with disabilities, persons living in poverty or in remote areas, olde r persons, individuals, minorities and Indigenous Peoples. Safe, effective participation often depends on the realization of other rights, including those related to security, the protection of the environment, and education. 33. Indigenous Peoples also have the right to maintain, practise and develop their own sports, including by deciding on the structures, processes and procedures that they choose to promote in order to support them. 22 3. Contribution 34. In addition to participation in sports, everyone must have the right to contribute to the design, establishment and evaluation of programmes relating to sports, and to participate in discussions about the evolution of sports, their meaning for individu als, communities and wider society, and the ways in which they shape identities, values and ways of life. 35. Not everyone will make the same contribution or contribute at the same level, but athletes and experts are not the only people who have the right to contribute. Audiences, athletes’ parents and lay people have the right to contribute at different levels, without undermining the existing system of sporting structures. In so doing, they can complement sporting bodies in many ways, and ensure that those bodies respond to their needs and those of wider society. Sport programmes and facilities should be adaptable to the changing needs and preferences of individuals and communities, as well as to evolving social, cultural, and technological contexts. 36. The doctrine of the “autonomy of sport” acts to a great extent as a way of shielding sports from external scrutiny and accountability. As the argument goes, sports and sporting law (lex sportiva) are so special that State interference and regulation must be limited. 23 This doctrine, recognized by many, including the European Commission, the European Council and the General Assembly, 24 cannot act as an obstacle to contributions by all to the evaluation of existing structures, policies and practices and their improvement through initiatives that receive contributions from, and are at times led by, different sectors and individuals. Remedie s for recognized abuses and violations are essential in ensuring that the voices of all are heard and taken into account. D. Limitations to the right to participate in sports 37. Like most human rights, the right to participate in sports may be subject to limitations under international law. Such limitations must be based in law, pursue a legitimate aim, be compatible with the nature of the right and be strictly necessary for the promotion of general welfare in a democratic society, in accordance with article 4 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Any __________________ 22 23 24 10/24 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, arts. 5, 11, 19 and 31. William Rook and Daniela Heerdt, eds, The Routledge Handbook of Mega-Sporting Events and Human Rights, Routledge International Handbooks (Abingdon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Routledge, 2023), p. 43. See General Assembly resolution 69/6; European Council, Presidency Conclusions of the special meeting held in Lisbon on 23 and 24 March 2000 (www.europarl.europa.eu/summits/lis1_en.htm); and European Commission, White Paper on Sport (2007). 24-14354