The International Olympic Committee (IOC), in choosing China to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, faces massive challenges in fulfilling its expressed commitment to human rights, Human Rights Watch said…

In December 2014…IOC adopted reforms known as Olympic Agenda 2020. This includes specific requirements for host cities to ensure labor rights, uphold press freedom, prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and defend “human dignity.”…The IOC Evaluation Commission’s January 2015 report on China notes that the IOC “received assurances” from Chinese authorities on human rights, but failed to provide any detail. The IOC has no human rights monitoring mechanisms in place to measure a host country’s respect for these rules.

The 2008 Summer Olympics was a catalyst for human rights abuses in a country with an already poor rights record...China’s current rights environment is at its worst in the last two decades…

Human Rights Watch urges the IOC to:   

• Immediately begin consultations with independent civil society organizations and activists from China to address their concerns about China’s hosting the 2022 Games;    
• Establish effective and independent monitoring mechanisms to track and report on regression on labor rights, press freedom, discrimination, and all areas where “assurances” were received, and commit to publicly speak out on and help ensure redress for these rights violations when they occur; and    
• Publicly make clear that significant Olympics-related human rights violations will result in the ultimate sanction of relocating the 2022 Games…