Athletes’ club: IOC lacks “genuine commitment” to human rights
The advocacy group Athleten Deutschland misses IOC President Thomas Bach’s “real commitment to respecting human rights” at the Winter Games in Beijing. “You cannot pretend this political neutrality and these noble but very vague values of the International Olympic Committee in order to get out of difficult debates,” said Johannes Herber, managing director of the association, in an interview with the newspaper “Die Welt”.
The fact that the Olympics are taking place in China, where there is evidence of “blatant human rights abuses” happening and absolutely nothing coming from the IOC, “is just sad,” he said. This must not happen again in the future. “You can expect more from a German IOC President, who we also expect to share our values,” said Herber.