International Olympic Committee strengthens commitment to human rights — but what will that actually mean?

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced it will create its own internal human rights unit as it finalises a number of policies aiming to address issues “within the scope of its responsibility”.

In a statement, the IOC said its framework would, among other things, “ensure fairness, safety and non-discrimination of athletes on the basis of gender identity and sex characteristics”.

Olympic sports World Rugby and World Athletics have both adopted exclusionary positions against transgender and intersex athletes and may require further clarification from the IOC.

Nobody yet knows how the IOC plans to use the policy or what significant difference it expects to make.

It comes at a delicate time though with China challenging…