Foul Play:
How the International Olympic Committee Failed
the Olympic Charter and Darfur

A Darfur Report Card on
the International Olympic Committee
and the 2008 Beijing Games

April 16, 2008
Full report available at: www.dreamfordarfur.org -- http://www.dreamfordarfur.org

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The issue of Darfur is well known to the members and management of the International Olympic Committee. After all, in February of this year, the world renowned director Steven Spielberg resigned his post as artistic director of the 2008 Summer Olympics, stating, "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual. At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur."

Dream for Darfur has repeatedly reached out to attempt to engage the IOC in seeking some course of productive action it might take to help bring peace to Darfur. Of the many organizations associated with the 2008 Olympics whom we have contacted-athletes, sponsors, the National Olympic Committees and others - the IOC is one of the most important of all stakeholders. This report card evaluates the IOC's responsiveness to the Darfur genocide. The following are our five findings:

FINDING 1:
The IOC has failed to take meaningful action - or to take even modest steps - to help stop the genocide in western Sudan. The IOC also apparently discouraged Olympic sponsors from taking action. Finally, the IOC has not even mentioned the word "Darfur" in its public statements.

If the IOC were truly to live up to its mission and rhetoric - that "sport unites and teaches about respect and tolerance, two values that are essential in today's world" - it might have sought a way to use sport to encourage peace in Darfur. For instance, the IOC could have written to its many colleagues and contacts at the UN to inquire about the schedule of deployment for Darfur's civilian protection force. Indeed, Dream for Darfur asked the IOC to write such a letter and even provided a template (see Appendix A5). The IOC refused. It is our impression, moreover, that the IOC dampened the interest of a small group of corporate sponsors that were considering calling on the Security Council to take action on Darfur. (The full explanation of this finding is on page 11.)

FINDING 2:
The IOC has abrogated its own Olympic Charter and so has failed the Olympic stakeholders: athletes, sponsors and spectators, and the world public. The IOC has even failed to use a powerful and unique tool at its disposal, the Olympic Truce.

The Olympic Charter states, "The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity."[iv] By refusing to confront the challenge posed by the Darfur crisis, the IOC has allowed the Games to be tarnished - thereby damaging the reputations of the athletes, sponsors and the Olympics overall. In addition, the IOC could have used the Olympic Truce to call for a cessation of violence in Darfur during and after the Games or as an opportunity to intercede, either privately or publicly, with the UN. To date it has failed to do so.

We note with urgency that there is still time to implement the Olympic Truce on behalf of the endangered and defenseless men, women and children of western Sudan. (The full explanation of this finding is on page 14.)

FINDING 3: The IOC's claims that the Olympics are separate from politics are unconvincing - even hypocritical - given the fact that the IOC justified awarding the Games to China, in part, because the Games would "open up" China to the world.

Seven years ago, the IOC justified awarding the Games to China by saying that the Games would "open up" China to the world; the very awarding of the Games to Beijing was a political act. Furthermore, the Olympic movement has a long track record of becoming involved politically.

The IOC has joined China in cynical and disingenuous claims that it is human rights advocates who are politicizing the Games. In fact, the reverse is true. So long as the IOC fails to pursue its humanitarian mission per the Olympic Charter, it will abet Beijing in hijacking the Games for purely economic and political goals, hosting a two-week celebration of China's rising prominence in the world. This is occurring despite the fact that the host country continues to underwrite genocide in Darfur. (The full explanation of this finding is on page 17.)

FINDING 4:
The IOC has had seven years to prepare for the inevitable human rights challenges posed by China’s hosting of the Olympics. The IOC's inaction on Darfur, and its failure to either take proactive steps, or respond to our appeals, is a case study of mismanagement.

Beyond inadequate, the IOC's response to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur has been inept. Instead of providing leadership to other organizations associated with the Olympics, the most the IOC has done for Darfur is a distribution of clothing at a refugee camp in Chad. In the final analysis, the IOC has taken no proactive steps that could have helped address an ongoing mass slaughter that will now likely be concurrent with the Olympics and underwritten by the Olympic host country. (The full explanation of this finding is on page 19.)

FINDING 5:
Lacking leadership from the IOC, nearly the entire Olympic movement has been rudderless about Darfur and remained silent.

Nearly the entire Olympic movement (the National Organizing Committees, sporting federations and prominent individuals who are members of the IOC) has been silent about Darfur due to a lack of leadership by the IOC. Without leadership from the IOC, the 19 Olympic sponsors and suppliers we have targeted are proceeding cautiously - if at all - in their statements on Darfur – and paying a heavy toll in negative publicity. This issue will be explained further in Dream for Darfur's forthcoming Olympic Corporate Sponsor Report Card #2. (The full explanation of this finding is on page 20.)

CONCLUSION: The IOC has failed this evaluation, and is given an F, the lowest possible mark.
The IOC received only 20 out of 200 possible points on a scale of responsiveness to Darfur.

Recommendations for the IOC
It is not too late for the IOC to still have a positive impact on the situation in Darfur. Toward that end, Dream for Darfur calls on the IOC - and the broader Olympic Movement - to do all possible to stop the horrific violence in Darfur in the months before the Games begin in August:

1. The IOC should immediately employ the singular tool available to it, the Olympic Truce, with respect to Darfur. Historically, the Truce calls for a cessation of hostilities for a period before, during and after the Games. In 2000, the IOC established the International Olympic Truce Foundation and the International Olympic Truce Centre as "new instruments of peace in our times," to "promote its peaceful principles into concrete actions."[v] To implement the Olympic Truce for the 2008 Games, the IOC should call urgently on the UN Security Council and the entire international community to implement the full deployment of UN Resolution 1769 immediately so that civilians will be protected in Darfur before the Games commence. The IOC should also initiate private conversations at the UN to mobilize a lasting response to the Darfur crisis before the Games begin.
   
2. Exercise leadership: Mobilize the entire Olympic movement. The IOC should play a leadership role within the Olympic Movement - from leading the National Organizing Committees to the IOC's own individual members, all of whom are prominent people (listed in our Appendix B8) to undertake a meaningful action on Darfur. Support and lead Olympic corporate sponsors' efforts in this regard as well.
   
3. Release to the public Beijing's bid to be an Olympic host and the city contract; other host cities have released their bids.
   
4. Establish human rights benchmarks around the selection of future host countries for the Games and create a permanent standing mechanism within the IOC to address human rights abuses committed by host countries as they occur.
   
   In addition,
   
5. Athletes, the NOCs and members of the Olympic movement should establish an independent commission to study the IOC's fidelity to the Olympic Charter and its humanitarian vision and seek to redress failings. This would include provisions regarding human rights promises and violations by Olympic host nations.