IOC's Coates rules out pressuring China over human rights

Mr. Coates said the IOC's human rights remit only covered the "Olympic movement" and the National Olympic Committees within it

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will not pressure hosts China over its human rights record because it is not in the governing body's remit to dictate to sovereign countries, IOC Vice-President John Coates said on October 13.

Rights groups and U.S. lawmakers have called on the IOC to postpone next year's Beijing Games and relocate the event unless China ends what the United States deems ongoing genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups.

Chinese authorities have been accused of facilitating forced labour by detaining around a million Uyghurs and other primarily Muslim minorities in camps since 2016.