R13 A4: Red Card for Sportwashing

One of the principles of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the
harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society
concerned with the preservation of human dignity. We understand that human
dignity should neither be exclusive to nor withheld from any ethnicity, gender,
language, religion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Unfortunately, sports have been instrumentalised by certain countries and
regimes to hide their record of grave human rights violations and at times
glorify a personality cult to serve as a distraction. This is called
sportwashing. A very notorious case is the 1936 Summer and Winter Olympics
hosted by and held in Nazi Germany. Going into recent times, more and more cases
of sportwashing are being committed: the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, the 2022
Winter Olympics in China, and the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar to name some. The
preparations for the latter are being plagued by cases of migrant workers
working under dangerous conditions with little to no pay, extremely low
standards of living, and deaths caused by preventable workplace accidents.

We young greens believe that no country which engages in severe human rights
abuses such as forced labour, genocide, and war crimes may be allowed to host
major international sport tournaments such as but not limited to Olympic Games
and world championships. Furthermore, similarly severe human rights abuses such
as forced labour, forced displacement, and persecution of national and cultural
minorities in the process of preparing for these games are unacceptable and
should lead to the host country being changed or the games suspended, as well as
other sanctions (e.g. fines or bans from future competitions).

Therefore we, the Federation of Young European Greens, call for:

• a reform of the International Olympic Committee’s Code of Ethics where
  severe human rights abuses in the process of preparing for the games
  should lead to the host country being changed or the games suspended, as
  well as other sanctions where necessary (e.g. fines or bans from future
  competitions);

• a reform of the Rule of Conduct for Host Countries and the hosting process
  where human rights abuses in the process of preparing for the games must
  at all times be avoided, where countries with history of human rights
  violations must closely consult and be supervised by the International
  Olympic Committee, and in case of violation an appropriate sanction can be
  put on the host country;

• to apply these provisions analogously to international sports federations
  with their respective international sporting events and competitions;

• the revival of the Olympic Truce as an absolute requirement during the
  Olympic Games. It means no country will engage in an armed conflict seven
  days before the start of each Olympic Games and until the eighth day after
  the conclusion of the Paralympics. Its violation should also be sanctioned
  forcefully.