Ukrainian athletes’ human rights have “not been addressed” by International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach and a UN expert in weighing Russia and Belarus’s readmission into global sports events, a leading authority on human rights says.
Patricia Wiater said “unfortunately” neither the IOC nor UN special rapporteur in cultural rights Alexandra Xanthaki had addressed protecting the rights of Ukraine’s athletes.
Wiater was behind the German Olympic Sports Confederation’s legal opinion justifying the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competition.
She spoke to reporters – alongside Ukrainian and non-Ukrainian athletes – following the IOC’s recommendation on Tuesday to allow athletes from Russia and Moscow ally Belarus to compete as individual neutrals in upcoming international competitions.
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They have been largely banned since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.
“The question is, are the proposed conditions of readmission enough to guarantee the human rights of Ukrainian athletes are being respected,” Wiater said during the press conference via zoom.
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“Are they proportionate and are they adequate to prevent (that) sporting events are abused for war propaganda,” added the professor for Public International Law and Human Rights.
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