On Handling Harassment Cases (Reporting & Consultation Hotline / Support after Consultation)

With the triathlon/paratriathlon events resuming after COVID-19 outbreak settling down and in anticipation of the athletes and coaches becoming more active as they go back to training, Japan Triathlon Union (JTU: Mitsuhide Iwaki, President) takes this opportunity to raise awareness to the following harassment cases in order to prevent any occurrence of such act. These include inappropriate posting on social networking sites.

[examples]
* Acts of harassment or verbal abuse (including words discouraging athletes from participating in events) by coaches and instructors against all athletes
* Remarks that are considered to be slanderous or speaking ill of other athletes.
* Remarks/acts of sexual abuse/harassment by coaches and instructors against female athletes
* Remarks/acts of sexual abuse/harassment by coaches and instructors against male athletes
* Remarks/acts of sexual abuse/harassment by coaches and instructors against junior athletes
* Other cases depending on the way an athlete and a coach/instructor face (one-on-one meetings behind closed doors) can be suspected as harassment or abuse

Since 2013, JTU has set up a hotline for reporting/consultation of harassment cases.
https://www.jtu.or.jp/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/e7c0d486c9015ced5a3735e04110e0cb.pdf
＊Hotline exclusively for women is currently in preparation

Reported cases are handled based on JTU’s Regulation on the Processing of Reported/Consulted Cases.
https://www.jtu.or.jp/wordpress/wp-content/upload_pdf/tsuhosoudan.pdf

[Purpose]
The purpose of this regulation is to protect the rights or interests of the people who are involved in triathlon, duathlon and other related sport from any act of harassment including violence or other unjustifiable conduct. Such cases will be detected swiftly and will be corrected so that recurrence of such act will be prevented and that people involved in triathlon will enjoy the sport in a fair environment.

Those who are involved in JTU activities are conducting their work based on the principles and spirit stipulated in the JTU Code of Ethics.
https://www.jtu.or.jp/wordpress/wp-content/upload_pdf/rinrikitei.pdf

= Principles and Spirit of the Enactment of JTU Code of Ethics =

The goal of the Japan Triathlon Union (hereafter ‘JTU’) activities is to contribute to the development and promotion of the sport of triathlon and to help the population develop their physical and mental health through the sport. The Code of Ethics and related guidelines established by the Japan Sport Association, the Japanese Olympic Committee and International Triathlon Union will be observed when implementing the activities in a fair and appropriate way. JTU will enact this Code of Ethics with the resolution of the Executive Board and the Congress, and together with the member federations/associations, JTU aims to raise awareness toward compliance, ethics and social norms.

[Purpose]
This Code aims to secure social trust toward the JTU by determining the basic matters on ethics of people involved, not only in JTU competitions/events but various activities throughout the year.

Once again, JTU Executive Board declares that the JTU family will continue to comply with the Code of Ethics and at the same time will widely inform about the reporting/consultation hotline (which exists from 2013) to the member federations/associations, and will continue to strive for early detection, correction and prevent recurrence of harassment/abuse cases.