Beijing 2022: Olympics chief rules out pressuring China over human rights despite calls for postponement

International Olympic Committee vice-president John Coates says it’s not in the governing body’s remit to dictate to sovereign countries

‘We have no ability to go into a country and tell them what to do. All we can do is to award the Olympics to a country,’ Coates adds

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The slogan for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, ‘Together for a shared future’, is unveiled on a giant screen at a ceremony in Beijing, China on September 17, 2021. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:07pm, 13 Oct 2021Updated: 1:07pm, 13 Oct 2021

The International Olympic Committee will not pressure 2022 Winter Olympics hosts China over its human rights record because it is not in the governing body’s remit to dictate to sovereign countries, IOC vice-president John Coates said on Wednesday.

Rights groups and US lawmakers have called on the IOC to postpone next year’s Beijing Games and relocate the event unless China ends what the United States deems ongoing genocide against Uygurs and other Muslim minority groups.

Chinese authorities have been accused of facilitating forced labour by detaining around a million Uygurs and other primarily Muslim minorities in camps since 2016.

China denies wrongdoing, saying it has set up vocational training centres to combat extremism.

A visitor to the Shougang Park poses for photos in front of a sculpture depicting figure skaters and the Olympic Rings in Beijing. Photo: AP

Coates said the IOC’s human rights remit only covered the “Olympic movement” and the National Olympic Committees within it.

“The IOC does place a very high emphasis on human rights,” Coates told reporters at a media conference.