Olympic Committee Should Monitor Host Countries on Human Rights

Human Rights Watch
New York
October 7, 2009

Olympic Congress Should Adopt a Plan to Oversee Human Rights Environment for the Olympic Games

The Copenhagen Olympic Congress should create a permanent mechanism to monitor human rights in host countries before, during and after Olympic Games.
Human Rights Watch, which has submitted a proposal to the Congress
(http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hsJNK3ORIiLPJeJ&s=fjKSJ5MOKoK3LeNNLpF&m=ifLPK2MGIeIRG),
is particularly concerned about potential abuses in Russia, host for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. The world watched as China trampled on human rights — including throwing people in jail — in the name of preparing for the Beijing Games. That should never happen again, and the Olympic Congress should act now to make sure it doesn’t.