IOC refuses to suspend Russians and Belarusians who publicly support Russian war crimes from Olympics - Global Rights Compliance
International human rights experts Global Rights Compliance (GRC) have released new evidence showing that more than two-thirds of the Russian athletes who will take part in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris next week have violated the IOC's "Principles of Participation" in connection with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This is stated in the GRC press release, Censor.NET reports.
The evidence, released today by the international human rights organisation Global Rights Compliance, includes a thorough open-source investigation (OSINT) into the 57 Russian and Belarusian athletes who were announced by the IOC on 8 June 2024 as eligible to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games as "individual neutral athletes".
These athletes were granted the right to participate in the Olympic Games following an assessment by the IOC's Individual Neutral Athlete Eligibility Review Panel (AINERP), which reviewed the athletes in accordance with the IOC's Principles of Participation, approved in December 2023. The Principles prohibit the participation of athletes from Russia and/or Belarus who support the war in Ukraine, including through the media and social media, or those athletes who have contracted with the Russian and Belarusian military or security forces that facilitate Russia's illegal invasion.
The documentation concerning the implementation of the rules for the participation of individual athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports states that "in the event of any breach" of the principles, the IOC "will take the necessary measures and impose the necessary sanctions, which may include the disqualification of the person from the relevant competition".
33 of the 59 Russian and Belarusian athletes recognised by the IOC as eligible to compete accepted the invitation. A dossier published by Global Rights Compliance shows that more than two-thirds (67%) of the Russian athletes who accepted the invitation and more than one-third (44%) of the Belarusian athletes violated the "Principles of Participation" and are ineligible for the Olympics.
Among the Russian athletes in the dossier is cyclist Alyona Ivanchyonka, who violated the rules by "liking" a number of social media posts in support of the war, including posts questioning Ukraine's right to exist and posts supporting the annexation of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Tennis player Alyona Vesnina also violated the rules by liking posts about the so-called "military exploits" of Russian soldiers who kill Ukrainians, as well as posts depicting the symbol of Russian aggression - "Z".
The Belarusian contingent includes rower, junior sergeant of the Armed Forces of Belarus Yevgeny Zalatyi, as well as swimmer Anastasia Shkurdai, who is a representative of the Sports Committee of the Armed Forces of Belarus.
"GRC has repeatedly sent evidence of these violations to the International Olympic Committee with a request to exclude Russians and Belarusians who support the Russian war in Ukraine. However, the IOC initially responded that it was checking all participants, and then stopped responding to further letters and did not take any measures to ban the violators of its own rules from the Olympics. Despite the fact that the GRC provided convincing evidence of violations, the IOC did not refuse to fulfil its obligations," the human rights activists stressed.
"By allowing athletes who support Russia's illegal and brutal invasion of Ukraine, the IOC is effectively demonstrating that one state can violently invade another sovereign and independent state and still be welcomed on the world stage," the organisation stated.
Global Rights Compliance reminded that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia has killed more than 450 Ukrainian athletes.
"Today, Global Rights Compliance publicly calls on the IOC to uphold its commitment to thoroughly check all neutral participants and to disqualify all athletes who have violated the Principles of Participation before the start of the Olympic Games on 26 July 2024 and to prevent Russians and Belarusians who support Russia's war against Ukraine from participating in the Paris Olympics," the human rights activists said.
Wayne Jordash CS, President of Global Rights Compliance, said: "This Olympic Games should be an opportunity for the IOC to reaffirm and demonstrate its respect for its own human rights policy, which should be based on the principles of peace, stability and full respect for human rights.
The IOC turns a blind eye to the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes who have demonstrated their support for Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine.
If the IOC's stated purpose is "Building a better world through sport", then the IOC must take steps to demonstrate that it - and its affiliated companies - do more than pay lip service to ethics and human rights for all."
Jeremy Pizzi, Legal Counsel at Global Rights Compliance, said: "The IOC has argued that the Participation Principles are the best possible solution to respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine while still serving the interests of athletes. If properly applied, these rules could have done just that. However, the IOC has unfortunately failed in its duty to apply them in good faith."
