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Get the latest news and updates from our partners on the human rights issues in and around the world of sport.
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Germany: At the Tipping Point for Human Rights & Sport
German Bundestag’s Public Hearing Represents Opportunity to Walk the Talk (Nyon, Switzerland, 11 May, 2022) — As the German Bundestag’s Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid holds its first-ever public hearing on human rights and sport, civil society organizations and athlete representative groups such as the Sport & Rights Alliance, World Players Association, Transparency […]
FSE & CSHR Launch Fans’ Human Rights Guide
Like all people associated with sport, the human rights of fans should be upheld, and governments and institutions across the sports ecosystem, such as event organising committees, have responsibilities to protect and respect them. Promoting human rights is a job for everyone, and fans themselves also have responsibilities. Fans have a strong platform to contribute […]
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 […]
Global Sport Industry Worth Billions: Players and Athletes Fail to Receive Their Fair Share
On the eve of the Beijing Olympics, one of the biggest unpaid sports events on the planet, a new report published today by the World Players Association shows that athletes and players continue to be denied a fair share of the wealth they generate and are excluded from the decision-making table. The World Player’s report, […]
Peng Shuai: International Olympic Committee should center its responsibility to protect athletes
(Nyon, Switzerland, January 31, 2022) – International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach first spoke with Chinese tennis player and three-time Olympian Peng Shuai at a time when no one outside China had been able to make contact. Unfortunately, the danger of her situation has been downplayed, and Bach did not mention Peng’s allegations of […]
New Year’s Revolution: Why 2022 will be a Wake-up Call for the World of Sport
The year 2022 will bring not one, not two, but three mega-sporting events in countries with problematic human rights records: the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, and the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Qatar. The idea that sport can and should remain politically […]
China: World must use Winter Olympics to demand human rights improvements
Games take place amid worsening human rights situation International community must not be complicit in sportswashing exercise IOC should better protect athletes’ rights following Peng Shuai case The world must use the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics as an opportunity to push for human rights improvements in China, Amnesty International said ahead of next month’s […]
Journalists at the Beijing Winter Olympics may test China’s tolerance for critical coverage
Can China and the International Olympic Committee maintain a “bubble” of total press freedom inside China’s vast sea of repression? That’s the question facing thousands of journalists as they arrive in the coming weeks to cover the Beijing Winter Olympics, which kick off on February 4. (CPJ’s safety advisory for those attending addresses coronavirus restrictions and […]
World Players Association Statement on Peng Shuai
The global player association movement is deeply concerned for the health and safety of Peng Shuai. Players who speak out are frequently targeted and left exposed to harm and abuse without protection or support, and that must end. The global sport community including the International Olympic Committee has a responsibility to exercise its significant leverage […]