Page 13 - THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE’S ACCOUNTABILITY FOR HARMFUL CONSEQUENCES OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES- A MULTI-METHOD INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ANALYSIS Ryan Gautier

Chapter One – Introduction
organisations.14 A complaint lodged with the International Labour Organization (‘ILO’) alleged general conditions of forced labour in Qatar.15
Labour rights violations are not the only problems that beset hosts of the Olympic Games. In many host cities, people are evicted from their homes to make room for stadiums, hotels, media centres, and transportation infrastructure used to support the Games. Hosting a major sporting event also places great strain on the local environment due to infrastructure construction, increased tourists flows, and so forth, which local officials cannot always cope with. Some editions of the Games have been held in countries that regularly violate human rights in a general manner, restricting freedoms of speech and movement, actively discriminating against certain populations, or engaging in regimes of terror. All of this has led to increased pressure on host cities and states, prospective hosts, corporate sponsors, and the international sporting organisations that hold the rights to these sporting events to prevent and remedy these problems.
2. The ‘Worst Outcomes’ of Hosting the Olympic Games
This thesis examines the accountability for the ‘worst outcomes’ of the Olympic Games, defined in Part 2.3. In particular, it casts its gaze at the International Olympic Committee (‘IOC’), the rights-holder to the Games. The apparently obvious solution to the problem would be for the IOC to require hosts to adhere to domestic laws and international obligations that protect against violations of human rights, and other negative outcomes that impact individuals. Unfortunately, this is not a realistic solution. First, it is possible that the IOC does not want to, or does not care to, require hosts to avoid these outcomes. Second, even if the IOC set out these requirements, it is possible that the IOC cannot, or does not want to, enforce them. This thesis will argue that the problem is not necessarily a lack of standards per se—although it is a problem—but is more a lack of monitoring and enforcement of these standards, or accountability, on the part of the relevant actors. In
14 International Trade Union Confederation, ‘The Case Against Qatar: Host of the FIFA 2022 World Cup’ (2014).
15 International Labour Organization, Governing Body, ‘Eighth Supplementary Report: Report of the committee
set up to examine the representation alleging non-observance by Qatar of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) made under article 24 of the ILO Constitution by the International Trade Union Confederation and the Building and Woodworkers International’ (GB.320/INS/14/8 2014).
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