Page 21 - THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE’S ACCOUNTABILITY FOR HARMFUL CONSEQUENCES OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES- A MULTI-METHOD INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ANALYSIS Ryan Gautier

Chapter One – Introduction
The third category of human rights abuses, aligned with the focus of this research, are those that occur as a consequence of hosting the Games. The use of forced labour in Sochi to build Games-related infrastructure is but one example. Other examples that will be discussed in this thesis include displacement of persons to make way for Games-related infrastructure, and environmental damage caused by preparations to host the Games. These problems may be catalysed by underlying issues in a host country. For instance, if a country does not have strong labour laws, conditions of forced labour are more likely to arise than in a country with strong regime of labour rights protection. While this category might then be seen as substantially similar, if not identical, to the first category of human rights issues discussed, the difference is causation. For instance, if the Olympic Games were not hosted in Sochi, the demand for migrant workers would not have arisen, and workers would not have been abused. The same can be said for issues such as displacement of persons and environmental damage. While these problems do not have the same negative impact, I will broadly group them together for the ease of analysis, using the short form ‘worst outcomes’ of the Games.
This dissertation is concerned with the problems in this latter category. These problems are those that may arise as a result of hosting the Olympic Games, and that affect a broad section of the general population. These problems will be examined more thoroughly in Chapters Three and Four, where I examine the legal responsibilities of the IOC for the worst outcomes of the Olympic Games.
2.4. Research Questions
Summing up the discussion so far, the central hypothesis of this research is that the worst outcomes of the Olympic Games are symptomatic of a lack of accountability on the part of the IOC. Absent accountability, the IOC has no incentive to address these problems. To begin to remedy the problems, the accountability of the IOC needs to be improved. In establishing the relevant research questions, it must be noted that former IOC Vice- President and former President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (‘WADA’), Richard
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