Sporting Events

Explore our latest research and analysis on the world’s biggest sporting events and the athletes, fans, and communities impacted by them.

China: Olympics Sponsors in Spotlight as Games Loom

Address Rights Risks, Press IOC to Adopt Rights Policy (New York) – The International Olympic Committee’s major corporate sponsors should explain publicly how they are using their leverage to address human rights abuses in China ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games, Human Rights Watch said today. Sponsors should also press the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to […]

China: A gold medal for repression

New ITUC research shows the actions of the Chinese Communist Party have made Beijing unsafe for athletes and others involved in the 2022 Winter Olympics, 4 – 20 February 2022. “China: A gold medal for repression” details five repressive policies of the ruling party that make China and the world less safe:  repression and imprisonment in […]

China’s Olympic Press Freedom Pledges: Worthless in 2008, Absent in 2022

Prospects for free-wheeling media coverage of the February Beijing Winter Olympics seem increasingly dim, not least because of the attitude of the International Olympic Committee. On October 13, John Coates, vice president of the International Olympic Committee, dismissed out of hand calls from CPJ, human rights groups, and US lawmakers to pressure Beijing over its abysmal […]

Sport & Rights Alliance Raises Concerns over FIFA’s Surprise Selection of UAE to Host 2021 Club World Cup

Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, announced on Wednesday that the global football governing body has selected the United Arab Emirates to host the Club World Cup 2022. Since 2017, FIFA has made important progress in terms of its human rights responsibilities, including adopting policies that ensure a human rights risk assessment for host countries and […]

Japan: Establish Safe Sport Center

Protect All Athletes as a Legacy of Tokyo Olympics, Paralympics (Tokyo) – The Japan Sports Agency and Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games should establish an independent national body to address the abuse of athletes in Japan, six Japanese and international nongovernmental organizations said today. Japan Safe Sport Joint Letter October 12, 2021 […]

Qatar: Failure to Investigate Migrant Worker Deaths Leaves Families in Despair

Qatari authorities have failed to investigate the deaths of thousands of migrant workers over the past decade, despite evidence of links between premature deaths and unsafe working conditions, Amnesty International said today. The organization’s new report, In the Prime of their Lives, documents how Qatar routinely issues death certificates for migrant workers without conducting adequate investigations, instead attributing deaths to “natural causes” […]