Playing the Game: Human Rights at the Olympics

We all have an idea of what the Olympics consist of: a sports festival with an impressive collection of international youth competing and representing their respective countries. Households are glued to their televisions to watch the various daily events and follow the medal count, rooting for their country and fostering a sense of healthy competition.

Though we may all know of the event and understand what occurs, few of us know the intended goal of the Olympics. According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), “The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.” Using my skills of deduction, I understood that the main priority of the IOC was to promote cooperation and peace.

Now, we are on the precipice of the Beijing Winter Olympics (beginning February 4, 2022), but even before it has begun, issues have arose between the athletes and the IOC. Athletes have been threatened to “stay silent” about human rights issues or else they possibly face losing their accreditation and, consequently, the ability to compete in the Olympics.

According to Yang Shu, deputy Director-General of International Relations for the Beijing Organizing Committee, he believes that, “Any expression that is in line with the Olympic spirit I’m sure will be protected,” whereas “Any behaviour or speech that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against the Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment.” This statement wasn’t surprising, as the IOC has ruled against any political protest at past Games; they are highly opposed to the politicization of sports. In last year’s Summer Games that took place in Tokyo, athletes who staged protests were punished, despite calls from various countries to allow peaceful protest for human rights issues. However, the way that China has interpreted the rule is much stricter in its interpretation and enforcement.

They have focused on Rule 50 of the IOC charter that forbids the, “demonstration of political, religious or racial propaganda” and are holding this to a high standard. In Olympic venues, even speech that could be considered under one of those categories could be subject to punishment under Chinese law. The Human Rights Watch has even held a briefing to warn the athletes of the Games that there is danger in speaking out and criticizing China’s human rights record while they are in Beijing. During press conferences, Yang declined in answering what the maximum punishment for political demonstration at the Games would be, but based on past experiences, critics of the Chinese government have been imprisoned for as little as comments made on social media.

Many countries are now announcing a diplomatic boycott of these winter Olympics, for example, American diplomats will not be attending these Games, the reasoning being stated that they want to show their disapprobation of the “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang” and the ongoing Uyghur genocide.

According to Citizen Lab, a Canadian cybersecurity research group, there are many security flaws within a health-tracking app that Olympic attendees must download, which makes their personal data vulnerable. This includes-within the app’s code-a list of political keywords and the ability for users to report content that may be considered “politically sensitive” content as a form of censorship. Among the list of words that are banned are names of Chinese leaders as well as government agencies, references to the 1989 Tiananmen Square event in which pro-democracy protesters were killed, and Falun Gong, a religious group banned in China. In a news conference, the Beijing Organizing Committee declared they weren’t aware of the political keyword list and they are trying to correct that issue. In the meantime, this issue is being compared to being under an “Orwellian surveillance state” in which anything that is communicated could make you liable to punishment. China’s Foreign Ministry has even gone as far as to recommend that athletes purchase burner phones and create new email accounts to use in the time being, prior to arriving in Beijing to avoid being constantly surveilled. The athletes were also advised to leave their main devices at home.

Now that you have had a chance to digest all of this controversy, will you tune in to this year’s
winter Olympics or have you been left with a sour taste in your mouth?