WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
At every major sporting event, there is a wider range of legal issues to consider that touch upon all aspects of the event from corporate and commercial through to regulatory and disciplinary matters. Parties to these issues include the organisers, rights-holders, governing bodies, teams, and athletes. The Olympic and Paralympic Games that will be hosted in China in 2022 will be no different.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
A group that accuses China of human rights violations against minorities has called for a complete boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to increase pressure on the International Olympic Committee and sports federations sponsored by athletes. The Human Rights Council released a statement on Monday calling for a boycott and refraining from further diplomatic boycotts and negotiations between the IOC and China. The call for boycotts comes days after a joint congressional hearing focused on the Beijing Olympics and China's human rights record, and days after the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said that boycotts were ineffective and could harm athletes.[1]
Human rights groups have met the IOC in the past year several times to demand that the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing be removed from China. For example, a coalition of 180 human rights groups has called on the government to boycott the Olympics so as not to further encourage China's authoritarian behavior. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for a diplomatic boycott, in which heads of state would refrain from attending and athletes would be permitted to attend the Games of 2022. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) has proposed an economic boycott instead of a diplomatic one, urging American spectators to not attend in person, which would reduce Beijing's tourism revenue.[2]
If Beijing is allowed to stage the Olympics as usual, they say, it will amount to acceptance of the Chinese government's atrocities against Uighurs, China's anti-democratic practices in Hong Kong, and other human rights violations. Momentum has rallied for a diplomatic boycott and for officials to not attend the 2022 Winter Olympics, but the results so far have disappointed a bipartisan group of lawmakers and 180 human rights groups who are calling for stronger action against what they call the 2022 Winter Olympics and crimes against humanity.[3]
HOW DOES THIS IMPACT THE LEGAL SECTOR?
The lawmakers in the United States, Britain and several European countries have called for the Olympics to be moved to another country by 2022 if China does not stop persecuting the Uighurs. But many experts say in the case of 2022 Beijing Olympics that a boycott won't work to make it harder to get concessions from China.[4]
Washington State Department spokeswoman Ned Price hinted at a news conference Tuesday that a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics was a way to address China's human rights abuses. Beijing won the right to host the Olympics 2022 in 2015 and if the Games go ahead as planned, it will be the first city to host both Summer and Winter Games. The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing are due to start in less than six months from February 4-20 and the Paralympics from March 4-13. That would make Beijing the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games.[5]
For the first time since 1988, the Summer and Winter Olympics in Tokyo and Beijing will be held within seven months, as opposed to the traditional two-year alternation and rescheduling. The 2020 and 2022 Olympic Games will take place against a political backdrop. According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Beijing will host the Winter Olympics 2022 next year and become the only place in the world to host both the Summer and Winter Games. China has scored a major propaganda victory and proved that human rights are not the serious concern the United States and its friends around the world claim in the run-up to the Olympic Games.[6]
The International Olympic Committee, the Swiss-based federation controlling the games, maintains the position that the host country of the Games is considered totalitarian by the international community and that totalitarian China is accused of genocide. The idea that the Games hover above politics is central to the Olympic ideals espoused by the leaders of the organizations that say that boycotts that punish athletes have had no impact on countries "behavior. The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee representing American athletes oppose boycotts and advocates using the Olympics to showcase American values.[7]
If China does not, then the US and other coalitions could organize a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Olympics and refuse to send the officials necessary to ensure the participation and safety of their athletes. Senior members of the Japanese government are interfering in the controversy surrounding Beijing's hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, with some calling on Japan to help put pressure on China on human rights issues.[8]
Winning the right to host the Beijing Paralympic Games in 2008 triggered action in China to improve lives of people with disabilities and to protect their rights as equal members of society. The Games changed China's approach and attitude to disability and made its society more inclusive for the estimated 83 million people living with disabilities..[10] Only time would tell if further improvements are made by the Chinese government to accommodate new and prevalent issues facing its society.
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REFERENCES
[1] See https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/sports/beijing-olympics-calls-grow-for-full-blown-boycott-over-alleged-human-rights-abuses/2452571/
[2] See https://www.vox.com/22451173/olympics-2022-winter-beijing-china-uyghurs-genocide , https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/sports/beijing-olympics-calls-grow-for-full-blown-boycott-over-alleged-human-rights-abuses/2452571/ and https://www.heritage.org/asia/report/strong-us-response-the-2022-winter-olympics-beijing
[3] See https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/32004162/calls-boycott-china-olympics-amid-uyghur-genocide-fall-flat-washington and https://www.vox.com/22451173/olympics-2022-winter-beijing-china-uyghurs-genocide
[4] See https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/debate-over-boycotting-2022-beijing-olympics
[5]See https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/06/us-considering-joining-boycott-of-2022-beijing-olympics.html , https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1112191/nagamine-pressure-human-rights-beijing and https://journals.sagepub.com/page/irs/virtualspecialcollections
[6] See https://www.heritage.org/asia/report/strong-us-response-the-2022-winter-olympics-beijing and https://journals.sagepub.com/page/irs/virtualspecialcollections
[7] See https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/32004162/calls-boycott-china-olympics-amid-uyghur-genocide-fall-flat-washington and https://www.vox.com/22451173/olympics-2022-winter-beijing-china-uyghurs-genocide
[8] See https://www.heritage.org/asia/report/strong-us-response-the-2022-winter-olympics-beijing and https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1112191/nagamine-pressure-human-rights-beijing
[9] See https://journals.sagepub.com/page/irs/virtualspecialcollections and https://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/story/2021-04-07/olympics-china-human-rights-debate
[10] See https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/32004162/calls-boycott-china-olympics-amid-uyghur-genocide-fall-flat-washington and https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/paralympic-games-and-promotion-rights-persons-disabilities
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