Appeal for 'dwarf-tossing' thrown out

A UN committee upheld a ban imposed by France

By Emma Jane Kirby BBC correspondent in Geneva

A tiny stuntman who protested against a French ban on the little-known sport of "dwarf-tossing" has lost his case before a United Nations human rights committee.

Manuel Wackenheim used to earn his living being thrown around bars and discothèques by customers.

He became unemployed in the mid-1990s, after France's highest administrative court ruled that his job was contrary to human dignity.

Mr Wackenheim appealed against the French ban, but when this failed, he took his complaint before the UN's Human Rights and Anti-Discriminational Committee, claiming that his rights had been violated.

But the UN committee said it was satisfied that the ban on dwarf-tossing should be upheld "in order to protect public order and considerations of human dignity".

Imported pastime

Mr Wackenheim earned his living through the bizarre sport of "dwarf-throwing" - a pastime imported from the United States and Australia in the 1980s.

The sport consists of big men in clubs and discos competing to see who can throw a small man the furthest.

The stuntman wears a crash helmet and padded clothing which has handles on the back.

The Frenchman himself is 1.14 metres (three feet seven inches) tall.