DECEMBER 6 (Reuters) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) warned Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on Tuesday that safe access to sport for women and young girls is a condition of representing the country at the Paris 2024 games.
Women’s sport in Afghanistan has been depressed since the Taliban took over a Western-backed government in August 2021.
The IOC Executive Board expressed “serious concern” and “strongly condemned” the restrictions on women after a meeting in Lausanne where it received a full report on the Olympic and sporting movement in Afghanistan.
However, no deadline was set.
“The concrete modalities for the participation of the Afghan NOK delegation and team in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games … will depend on the progress made on the fundamental issue of safe access to sport for women and young girls in the country” , it said.
Teams representing Afghanistan must include women athletes residing both in Afghanistan and abroad, the board said, and women should be represented on governing bodies and administration.
Human Rights Watch on Monday asked the IOC to suspend Afghanistan until women and girls in the country could play sports again.
“It shouldn’t take the IOC a day longer to remove the Taliban from the Olympic movement, strip them of their status and end IOC funding,” said Minky Worden, HRW director of global initiatives.
The IOC said Afghan athletes will continue to receive direct support where possible to help them prepare for the Olympics.
Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Toby Davis
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