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Olympic Committee’s Rights Commitments Tested in India
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is holding its 140th annual session from October 15 to 17 in Mumbai, India, where the government is expected to announce its bid to host the 2036 Summer Olympic Games in the western state of Gujarat. India has never hosted the Olympics and the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that now is […]
Olympics: Act on Sex Abuse Complaints by Indian Athletes
Sport & Rights Alliance Calls for Independent Investigation After Protesters Detained (Nyon, Switzerland) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) should immediately act to ensure reports of alleged sexual abuse of athletes by the president of the Wrestling Federation of India, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, are investigated fully, the Sport & Rights Alliance said today. In a statement on May […]
Switzerland: Parliament Must Ensure Respect for Human Rights by Sports Federations
Bern (6 June 2023) – Strong measures are needed to ensure that sports federations based in Switzerland comply with their human rights due diligence obligations, says Amnesty International. The human rights organization, together with the global coalition Sport & Rights Alliance, is calling on the Swiss Parliament to support two policy initiatives that seek to […]
“We Have to Empower Each Other”: Consultation With Survivors of Abuse in Sport
Consultation with Survivors of Abuse in Sport Outlines Need for Global Network (Nyon, Switzerland, 16 May, 2023) — Focus group research and trauma-informed interviews with over 25 athlete survivors and representatives of survivor-led organizations have revealed a widespread need for an international network to connect survivors, share experiences, facilitate learning and empower greater advocacy, the […]
France: Intrusive Olympics Surveillance Technologies Could Usher in a Dystopian Future
French lawmakers must reject any plans to use video surveillance powered by artificial intelligence (AI) at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Such draconian technologies of mass surveillance violate the rights to privacy and can lead to violations of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. This could result into dystopian levels of surveillance in […]
Ban Taliban from the Olympic Movement
Forcing Afghan Women, Girls Out of Sport Violates IOC Charter (New York) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) should suspend Taliban-run Afghanistan from participating in international sport until women and girls can once again play sport in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. The IOC should make this decision at its next executive board meeting, which […]
Olympics: IOC Heeds Calls to Embed Rights
Now Must Engage Stakeholders and Add Human Rights to Olympic Charter (Nyon, Switzerland, June 7, 2022) — The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) progress update released on May 20, 2022 is an important step towards adopting a desperately needed human rights strategic framework, the Sport & Rights Alliance said today. The move follows decades of calls […]
Beijing turned female Olympians into objects of nationalism, while Chinese women suffer
There was something deeply discomfiting about the 2022 Beijing Olympics – and it wasn’t just that the festivities covered up severe human rights abuses, including crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the erasure of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong. As I watched how female athletes have been perceived and how their narratives have […]
China: Olympian’s Gold Medal Gesture Sets Example to Governments Everywhere
Olympic champion Nils van der Poel has set an example to world leaders by giving away his Beijing 2022 gold medal in protest at human rights violations in China. The Swedish athlete handed the men’s 10,000m speed skating medal he won at this month’s Games to Angela Gui, whose father Gui Minhai is a bookseller […]
China: Censorship Mars Beijing Olympics
IOC, Sponsors’ Inaction Enables Restrictions on Athletes, Journalists (New York) – Chinese government censorship seriously marred the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which close on February 20, 2022, Human Rights Watch said today. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and corporate sponsors have not spoken out about the government’s human rights record or used their leverage to press for rights […]
Beijing: Letter to IOC President Requests Urgent Human Rights Reform
(Nyon, Switzerland, February 18, 2022) — The International Olympic Committee (IOC) must act now to ensure the human rights catastrophe of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics never happens again, the Sport & Rights Alliance (SRA) said today. In a letter to IOC President Thomas Bach, the SRA stated that “the IOC cannot simply return to […]
China: IOC Can’t Ensure Olympic Apparel Is Abuse-Free
Supplier Audits Lacked Transparency, Don’t Answer Key Questions (New York) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not conduct adequate human rights due diligence to address the risk that Olympic uniforms and other products for the Beijing Winter Games aren’t linked to grave rights violations in China’s Uyghur region, the Coalition to End Forced Labour in […]