Elastos, a Web3 and blockchain ecosystem fostering data ownership and privacy along with software firm Tuum Technologies has joined forces with Mission 89, a Geneva-based organization working toward mitigating child trafficking in sports.
Using Blockchain Technology to Tackle Child Trafficking
In an announcement made today, Elastos, along with Tuum Technologies stated they are partnering with Mission 89 to leverage decentralized identity technology to tackle child trafficking in sports. The use of blockchain technology for such a humanitarian cause will not only protect the victims but also raise awareness about this overlooked facet of human trafficking.
Notably, the announcement comes out on the United Nations’ World Day Against Trafficking Persons.
While human trafficking for sexual exploitation gets its fair share of media coverage the world over, the phenomenon of child trafficking in sports often gets overlooked.
It is no secret that children and teenagers in developing nations looking to get out of the vicious circle of poverty are easy prey for morally bankrupt “agents” who sell the false dreams of a life full of riches and comfort playing sports in Europe.
An increasing number of families of such children are falling victim to the ill-intentioned agents as they witness their child leading a modern-day life of slavery where players are traded like cattle. Further, these families fall into a debt-trap while funding their child’s “trip to Europe” only to see their child left behind with nothing in a remote location.
By allying with Mission 89, both Elastos and Tuum Technologies aim to promote decentralized IDs to approach and effectively tackle the child trafficking menace by facilitating tamper-proof verification of the credentials presented by sports agents.
The partnership among the three entities will ensure players, agents, and other stakeholders receive self-sovereign digital identities (SSIDs) on the Elastos blockchain. Notably, these SSIDs and certifications will be cryptographically verifiable and made available via the application being developed by the Tuum Technologies engineering team.
Key Focus on Education, Raising Awareness
Soon after the technical solution goes live, users will get primary exposure to the technology-hand and even learn how to use it. The alliance among Elastos Network, Tuum Technologies, and Mission 89 will work toward creating awareness campaigns with major sports organizations at national, regional, and local levels. At the same time, the user-base of the application will be increased via innovative gamification strategies.
The long-term vision of the partnership is to onboard major sports organizations so as to grow awareness of the initiative while tapping Mission 89’s network to foster adoption.
Commenting on the development, Donald Bullers, Founder, Tuum Technologies, noted:
“As a Web3 technology company, Tuum Technologies is on a mission to make self-sovereign digital identities and associated credentials easily accessible for everyone globally. By partnering with Mission89 our team now has the opportunity to bring this essential technology to sport through development of child safeguarding protocols. Our goal is to provide players, agents, and stakeholders self-sovereign IDs created and published on the Elastos blockchain facilitating genuine connections and eliminating child trafficking in sport.”
Similar sentiments were echoed by Lerina Bright, Director, Mission 89. She said:
“At the founding of Mission 89 we saw the need to set up a globally recognised licensing and accreditation system for athlete recruitment. This partnership with Tuum Technologies sets us on the path to realising this dream. Our multi-stakeholder approach to child safeguarding and Tuum’s expertise as a leader in blockchain technologies makes this a formidable partnership to realise the goal of using digital tools to keep sport safe for all. We aim to make it easy for families to verify the authenticity of recruiters, safeguard the rights of their wards, for genuine recruiters to have a harmonised way of proving their identity and for coaches to be in tune with child safeguarding protocols.”
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