Revision process: 2017-2019

The proposal to revise the Charter for Leisure arose at the biennial meeting of the World Leisure Academy (WLA) held in Durban during the 2016 World Leisure Congress, following a presentation by Prof. Tony Veal on leisure and human rights. The WLO Board of Directors invited the WLA to conduct the review and Prof. Atara Sivan, President of WLA, and Prof. Tony Veal, were appointed as co-convenors. Expressions of interest were called for from among the WLA members to join a Special Taskforce, which began its work in early 2017. The following contributed to the work of the Taskforce:

• Individuals who contributed to the work of the Taskforce:
  • Atara Sivan, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong (WLA President & Taskforce Co-convener)
  • Tony Veal, University of Technology, Sydney (Taskforce Co-convener)
  • Linda Caldwell, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
  • Derek Casey, Former Chair of the Board of the World Leisure Organization
  • John Dattilo, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
  • Geoffry Godbey, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
  • Arend Hardoff, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
  • Karla Henderson, North Carolina State University, USA
  • Bohdan Jung, Warsaw School of Economics, Poland
  • Jeong Myung Jim, Myong Ji University, Korea
  • Douglas Kleiber, University of Georgia, USA
  • Cristina Ortega Nuere, Chief Operating Officer, World Leisure Organization, Spain
  • Robert Stebbins, University of Calgary, Canada
  • John Tower, Victoria University, Australia
  • Ricardo Uvinha, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

• Comments on an initial draft were solicited from sixteen organizations including WLO Chapters, leisure studies associations and culture, tourism, sport and physical education organizations.

Comments were received from the following associations:

Academy of Leisure Sciences

Australian and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies

World Leisure Organization: Hong Kong Chapter

• Comments were also received from members of the WLO Board of Directors, collectively and individually.

An open invitation for comments was also made on a draft posted on the WLO website to obtain views from the public from around the globe.

The final version of the Charter was therefore the result of four drafts, hours of discussion and numerous revisions. We believe it was worth the effort.

The revised Charter was approved by the WLO Board in May 2020.

The World Leisure Academy (WLA) seeks to promote leisure through advocacy, research and educational endeavours. We are grateful for the opportunity afforded to us to engage in this important work. We are particularly grateful for the contributions and support received from colleagues from around the world for making possible this collective contribution to the achievement of the ideal of leisure as a human right for all.