The Olympic chief Thomas Bach urged on Wednesday for politics to be kept out of the Games by saying they would otherwise become as divisive as other areas of society. He said in a video message to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that the Olympic movement needs to be kept neutral and cannot be expected to solve civil liberties issues that politics had failed to fix.
As quoted by the AFP, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach said, “The Olympic Games are the only event that unites the entire world in peaceful competition. Everybody respects the same rules and stands together in solidarity. This universality and inclusiveness that define the Olympic Games require us at the IOC to be politically neutral.”
The chief further said that the Olympic charter has guaranteed equal rights for everyone during the Games, such as non-discrimination, freedom of the press and respect for labour rights standards. On Friday the IOC announced new guidelines which ease a long-standing ban on political protests at the Games.
Also, the Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshiro Muto tried to reassure that the Olympics would be staged safely despite the COVID-19 crisis. He said to Human Rights Council as quoted by AFP, “We will do our best to ensure safe and secure Tokyo 2020 Games for athletes and everyone by taking full and comprehensive countermeasures.” As the Olympics is set to start on July 23 to August 7.
