| Swiss-Tibetan Friendship Association, Tibetan Youth Association in Europe, Tibetan Community of Switzerland and Liechtenstein and Tibetan Women’s Association Switzerland & International Olympic Committee | |
|---|---|
| Lead NCP | Switzerland |
| Supporting NCP(s) | |
| Description | Specific Instance concerning the alleged non-observance of the OECD Guidelines. |
| Theme(s) | General policies, Human rights, Employment and industrial relations |
| Date | 23 Jul 2021 |
| Host country(ies) | China (People’s Republic of) |
| Source | NGO |
| Industry sector | Arts, entertainment and recreation |
| Status | Concluded |
| Summary | Read the Initial Assessment published by the NCP on 23 November 2021: English On 27 July 2021, four NGOs, the Swiss-Tibetan Friendship Association, Tibetan Youth Association in Europe, Tibetan Community of Switzerland and Liechtenstein and Tibetan Women’s Association Switzerland alleged that the International Olympic Committee had not observed the General Policies (Chapter II), Human Rights (Chapter IV), and Employment and Industrial Relations (Chapter V) provisions of the Guidelines. Specifically, issues relate to insufficient due diligence in awarding the 2022 Winter Olympics to China and therefore contributing to possible violations of internationally recognized human rights and abusive employment practices in China. On 23 November 2021, the NCP published an initial statement accepting the specific instance and moved to offer good offices to the parties. The NCP determined that the IOC fell within the scope of the Guidelines given that it is multinational and the activities in questions were commercial in nature. The Swiss NCP proposed to focus on mitigation and remediation of alleged adverse human rights impacts, as well as on exploring the roles and responsibilities of individual actors in the case in accordance with the Guidelines, allowing for responsible organisation of future Olympics. The IOC declined to participate in mediation citing bad faith behaviour as one of the submitting parties had disclosed the IOC’s confidential written submission on their website. On 21 December 2021, the NCP published a final statement concluding the procedure without an agreement between the parties. The NCP recommended that the parties maintain a dialogue building on previous written exchanges and that the IOC maintain contact with all stakeholders and disclose practices on due diligence surrounding the awarding of the Olympics. The NCP further called on the submitting parties to respect the rules of procedure under the Guidelines should they participate in the future. |
