UN expert tells IOC Russian athletes in volved in war should only be banned from Olympics if they committed ‘war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity’
Russian athletes who have actively served in the military invasion of Ukraine should be allowed to return to international sports if they did not take part in war crimes, according to a United Nations expert advising the International Olympic Committee.
Ukrainian government and sports officials want the IOC to ban all Russians from the 2024 Games and claim most of the country’s recent Olympic medalists were affiliated with the military. “We cannot hold all men who participate in illegal wars by their states following orders responsible. Those who perform crimes, we must,” Xanthaki wrote.
Since January, the IOC has pushed for finding a path to reintegrate Russians and Belarusians into world sports. It pointed to advice from Xanthaki and another UN expert that excluding athletes based only on their passport would be discrimination that breached their human rights. “It makes no sense in terms of sport,” Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, a two-time Olympian, told the Associated Press on Monday about Xanthaki’s views on the call and the difficulty of proving an athlete’s links to war crimes.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
If NHL stars want in on the next Olympics, they should say so nowEven if the NHL’s best players say they want to go to the Olympics, no one in the league will listen to them. That is why the NHL will not be part of the Olympics anymore
Read more »
Prince George celebrates Special Olympics with inclusion fairSpecial Olympics Prince George supports about 80 athletes in the community
Read more »
Putin says Russia will station tactical nukes in BelarusRussian President Vladimir Putin announced plans on Saturday to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighbouring Belarus.
Read more »
Blast from drone causes crater in centre of Russian town south of MoscowUkraine has fiercely criticized plans by Russian President Vladimir Putin to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and called for emergency UN meeting
Read more »
Blast from drone causes crater in centre of Russian town south of MoscowUkraine has fiercely criticized plans by Russian President Vladimir Putin to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and called for emergency UN meeting
Read more »
Blast from drone causes crater in centre of Russian town south of MoscowUkraine has fiercely criticized plans by Russian President Vladimir Putin to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus and called for emergency UN meeting
Read more »