Olympic Legacy Tarnished by Beijing 2022: Daily Brief

Now that the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are nearing an end, as activists, athletes, journalists, and governments continue to sound the alarm on issues ranging from country-wide censorship to forced labor and mass-surveillance, it is time for a reckoning. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and sponsors of the Olympics have failed to carry out basic human rights due diligence, and flagship broadcaster NBC has already come under criticism for under-reporting news of serious human rights violations. Will pressure by athletes, activists, sponsors, and broadcasters lead to durable change after the Beijing Games? Olympians and athletes’ rights groups are demanding IOC reforms to protect athletes, adopt human rights standards, and stop awarding major events to “sportswashing” dictatorships. Parliaments and governments are demanding accountability for the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity. Sponsors and broadcasters face demands that future host cities uphold human rights obligations to affected communities, including athletes, and they do not purchase goods made with forced labor. Also, what role will the United Nations play? 

It is encouraging to see that athletes are leading the way in calls for long-overdue reforms at sports organizations such as the International Olympic Committee. One of those athletes is Nils van der Poel from Sweden, who won two gold medals in speed skating during the Winter Olympics. He spoke some truth about the host country and the IOC upon his safe return home.

The authorities in Vietnam systematically restrict the rights to freedom of movement of political and human rights activists, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government should immediately end all restrictions on movement and amend laws that curb citizens’ basic rights to freely travel within, from, and to Vietnam. 

Good news regarding the rule of law in the European Union, as the Court of Justice in Luxembourg has ruled that EU institutions can tie funding to member states to respect for the rule of law. This potentially clears the way for strong action by the European Commission against Hungary and Poland. “The EU Court has sent a clear signal that EU funds should be used in ways that uphold rather than undermine Europe’s democratic values. The EU Commission should now act swiftly and demonstrate that defending the rule of law is at the top of its agenda,” says HRW's Philippe Dam.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has arrived in Brussels, eyeing a series of high-profile meetings in another attempt to boost his tainted image. Instead of giving al-Sisi a highly-undeserved red carpet treatment, European leaders should focus on highlighting the human rights crisis unfolding under his rule, and take long-overdue steps to address it, say activists who organized a protest against al-Sisi. Since coming to power in 2013, he has presided over brutal repression that may have reached the level of crimes against humanity, with countless arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and widespread torture. Independent civil society has been effectively outlawed through violent threats and intimidation as well as draconian legislation – inexplicably praised by the EU as a “positive step” – that places severe restrictions on the work of independent rights groups. 

And positive news from South Africa, where a company in Cape Town claims that it has successfully made a vaccine that mimics Moderna’s messenger RNA vaccine—without any help from Moderna. This copycat will still need to undergo clinical trials, but the effort could yield Africa’s first Covid-19 vaccine!