Major Sporting Events and Human Rights

Host nations and cities, sports organising bodies and companies must move faster, aim higher, and show stronger resolve

As the 2014 Winter Olympic Games get underway this weekend in Sochi, debates continue to intensify around the responsibilities of host nations, sports governing bodies and corporate sponsors all involved in planning and implementing major sporting events.

As the 2014 Winter Olympic Games get underway this weekend in Sochi, debates continue to intensify around the responsibilities of host nations, sports governing bodies and corporate sponsors all involved in planning and implementing major sporting events.

The Olympians gathering in Sochi are arriving at a contentious time. Russia’s human rights record is receiving unprecedented global attention and for good reason. While facing a genuine terrorism threat from Chechen separatists, the Russian government has clamped down on dissent vigorously. Political opponents are sent away on long jail terms. Dissenting artists, like the group Pussy Riot, have been jailed and treated humiliatingly while in detention. Equally troubling, discrimination against sexual minorities – lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgender – continues unabated.

Added to these concerns, investigations by the Moscow based security watchdog Agetura, in partnership with Privacy International in the UK and Citizen Lab in Canada, found that the Russian government has increased surveillance capabilities on communications in the Sochi area as part of their security plan. The groups believe these measures go well beyond counterterrorism and it is thought that athletes, journalists and diplomats will be targeted, as well as those planning protests.

To be sure, it is by no means certain that Russia will change its laws because of international criticism or because a few sponsors withdraw their support. Soviet troops left Afghanistan in 1989 not because of the US-led boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, but because the Cold War was ending, Afghan resistance was well-armed, and Soviet troops were exhausted. Nor does sponsoring the Games necessarily make corporate sponsors complicit in what Russia is doing to its people. Sponsoring the London Olympics in 2012 didn’t make any of the corporations involved complicit in any of the actions of British troops in Afghanistan or Iraq.

And yet, at the heart of the ongoing controversy surrounding the Olympics and other major sporting events like the FIFA World Cup is the idea that the world public increasingly expects more of those involved in organising global events, which aspire to the highest ideals of the human spirit. In addition to host governments, organisations like the International Olympic Committee, which award the right to host to cities, and companies which associate their brands with the Games, as well as those that build the infrastructure, provide services, and merchandise, all have responsibilities as well, including in the area of human rights.

From the way cities are chosen to how they raise money or treat the workers who build the stadiums and roads and maintain the slopes and clean the hotels, to how those who stitch the clothes, produce the equipment, and make the toys and souvenirs are paid – all these and other decisions are made on technical, economic, and financial considerations. Yet too little attention is paid to other important concerns, including whether such decisions and their implementation are consistent with international human rights standards.

The sports governing bodies that award Games, companies that associate with them, and organisers that make the events come to life all have a responsibility to respect human rights. To put that responsibility into practice, they should start by committing themselves to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which were unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011.

The cornerstone of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights lies in performing due diligence. Companies have to ensure that in planning and staging major events, human rights – of spectators, workers, players, officials – are not violated. This means that before the events take place and bids are prepared, organising Committees must look not only at technical and financial considerations, but also environmental, social, and human rights considerations as well.

This IHRB report points out many of the issues organisations and companies must concern themselves with if they wish to ensure that major sporting events are planned and carried out with due respect for international human rights standards.

As part of IHRB’s developing work to address the human rights considerations that should be part of all mega-sporting event planning an implementation, we’ve had the opportunity to speak with many individuals and organisations involved in staging major events as well as with those seeking to ensure more accountability at every stage. Our recent interviews with civil society groups in Brazil show that even as work continues to meet the deadlines for the FIFA World Cup this summer and the 2016 Olympics, there have been many instances of arbitrary and forced eviction of people from their homes to make way for sports-related infrastructure.

Other human rights abuses have come to light in recent disclosures from Qatar that show the large number of migrant workers who have died while building the stadiums, infrastructure, and hotels for the World Cup Football championship in 2022. The public outrage at these revelations has prompted FIFA to require that Qatar report within two weeks the steps it is taking to improve the conditions of workers. If Qatar does take serious steps, that would be a good sign, but the problem will remain and constant vigilance will be necessary.

IHRB’s recent report, Striving for Excellence: Megasporting Events and Human Rights, points out many of the issues organisations and companies must concern themselves with if they wish to ensure that major sporting events are planned and carried out with due respect for international human rights standards. Our report makes clear that there are many gaps to fill.

The opportunity to ensure that major sporting events are staged in keeping with the Olympic ideal has been lost in Sochi. But many more such events are being planned today. Host nations and cities around the world, as well as sports organising bodies and companies involved at every level must strive further – move faster, aim higher, and show stronger resolve – to respect human rights in the future.

Image credit: Duncan Rawlinson/Flickr