The Sport & Rights Alliance Supports International Olympic Committee’s Inclusion Framework
(Nyon, Switzerland, 02 August 2024) – The online abuse and hateful rhetoric directed at Olympic boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting is unconscionable, unfounded and must stop, the Sport & Rights Alliance said today. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has made clear the boxers are not in violation of any Olympic eligibility criteria.
“The horrifying level of online abuse directed towards Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting is another deeply disturbing example of the toxic, sexist, and racist discourses that cause real harm to women in sport and society,” said Stephen Cockburn, head of labour rights and sport for Amnesty International. “These women have done nothing wrong, yet are being hounded by hatred. Khelif and Yu-Ting deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, like any other Olympic athlete. Social media platforms should also respect the human rights of their users by ensuring that users are easily able to report abusive content and putting mitigation measures in place to minimise the algorithmic amplification of harmful content.”
Khelif and Yu-Ting, who compete for Algeria and Taiwan, respectively, have participated in the women’s category of international boxing competitions for many years, including the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and other IBA-sanctioned tournaments. The rules set by the IOC for Paris 2024 are based on those in place at Tokyo 2020 and those in place before the IBA was suspended by the IOC in 2019. Italian boxer Angela Carini has recently apologized to Khelif for the events following their match, saying “All this controversy makes me sad… If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.”
“The obsessive speculation around women’s bodies under the guise of ‘fair play’ is rooted in harmful gender and racial stereotypes and is a distraction from real human rights issues in women’s sport,” said Andrea Florence, director of the Sport & Rights Alliance. “It is unacceptable that Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting are being viciously attacked simply because they are perceived as falling outside of patriarchal and misogynistic notions of femininity. All women have the right to practice sport free from discrimination.”
Human Rights Watch published a 120-page report called, “‘They’re Chasing Us Away from Sport’: Human Rights Violations in Sex Testing of Elite Women Athletes.” The report documents the experiences of more than a dozen women athletes from the global south who have been affected by sex testing regulations. Human Rights Watch found that global regulations that encourage discrimination, surveillance, and coerced medical intervention on women athletes result in physical and psychological injury and economic hardship. In contrast to these harmful policies, the IOC Framework on Fairness, Inclusion, and Non-Discrimination offers sporting bodies a process for developing eligibility criteria that is based on internationally-recognized human rights.
“The International Olympic Committee is correct to put the basic human rights of privacy, inclusion, and participation in sport at the center of their policies,” said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch. “So-called ‘sex tests’ of women athletes and Olympians are unscientific, degrading, discredited, abusive – and never happen to men. The IOC is right to use a framework that focuses on prevention of harm, prevention of disinformation and online abuse, and to defend women athletes’ rights to dignity, privacy and to compete.”
Due to various problems with financial transparency, integrity of referees and judges, and good governance, the IOC suspended the IBA in 2019 and subsequently withdrew the IBA’s recognition in 2023. This decision was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in April 2024.
“The unprecedented amount of misinformation and violent rhetoric around Khelif and Yu-Ting has real-life consequences and can lead to serious social and individual harms,” said Gurchaten Sandhu, Director of Programmes at ILGA World. “In many countries, speculation about women’s gender identity or sex characteristics can put their lives at risk. It is paramount that these women be protected in the face of this horrific misinformation and abuse.”
