UN human rights experts criticise 'unneccessary' and 'unlawful' Olympic security
The three experts, who were commissioned by the Human Rights Council but were not speaking on behalf of the UN, said France must carry out "an independent and impartial review" of the measures deployed during the Games.
"French authorities took a number of reasonable measures to ensure that the Olympic Games were free from terrorist violence," the experts said. "Yet, some security measures appeared to be unnecessary or disproportionate, while others were discriminatory or even unlawful."
The French Ministry of the Interior declined to comment on the report.
The report noted that France has faced significant terrorist threats in recent years.
"Under international law, governments must act diligently to prevent threats to life posed by terrorism, but must always comply with human rights law," the report said.
"In too many cases, security measures were seemingly applied in an indiscriminate or overbroad manner, that was not necessary or proportionate to meet any specific, evidence-based risks posed by particular individuals," it added.
They pointed to "unprecedented surveillance...including the use of drones and 'algorithmic' video tools with artificial intelligence".
"We also found patterns of discriminatory policing, targeting individuals or groups for political views, religious affiliation or ethnic background," the experts said.
In some cases, measures appeared to be aimed at preventing disruptive public protests, the report said.
"Some of the measures arbitrarily interfered with the freedoms of expression, assembly and association, as well as the rights to privacy, reputation and liberty, and to participate in cultural life."
Some measures even violated French law, "as evidenced by the higher than usual number of annulments by the courts".
"Excessive measures are not necessary for security – and can counterproductively fuel grievance narratives that lead to radicalisation," the experts said.
The report was signed by three UN independent experts: Ben Saul, a Sydney University law professor and Special Rapporteur for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; Colombian Gina Romero, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; and Alexandra Xanthaki, a law professor at Brunel University in London and UN Special Rapporteur on cultural rights.
They urged France "to conduct an independent and impartial review of the security measures used during the Olympic Games" to "draw lessons for France and other countries on how to secure future major public events".
They said that with the Winter Olympics in Italy and the football World Cup in North America coming up international sporting bodies, such as the International Olympic Committee and FIFA, must "assess the human rights risks of their events and collaborate with host nations to mitigate them".
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UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
Trump works to broker bilateral meeting between Putin, Zelensky
1 of 15 | President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine meets President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Monday. Zelensky was joined by European leaders as he met with President Trump in an effort to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo Aug. 18 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday during a White House meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and said he will arrange a bilateral meeting between the two, within the next two weeks. The call came during Monday's negotiations between Zelensky, Trump and European leaders, who had gathered to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Trump said the future meeting would be followed by a trilateral meeting, involving the United States. On Monday night, the White House posted an Oval Office photo of Trump on the phone with Putin, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance looked on. Trump said Vance, Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff would be involved in coordinating the meeting between Putin and Zelensky. President Donald J. Trump on the phone with President Putin in the Oval Office. The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 19, 2025 In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he "had a very good meeting with distinguished guests," which included Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as well as much of the European delegation and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. "I called President Putin and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky," Trump said. "After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a war that has been going on for almost four years." Trump met with Zelensky earlier Monday afternoon to signal that the United States would provide Ukraine with "very good protection." "The security guarantees would be provided by the various European countries, with a coordination with the United States of America," Trump said. "Everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine." Macron called the U.S. commitment for Ukrainian security guarantees the "first and most important" outcome of Monday's talks. "Today, it was agreed that we will work with the United States of America on the content of these security guarantees and the cooperation that each party is prepared to provide," Macron said, adding that any meeting would have to take place under a cease-fire. "Call it a truce or a cease-fire, but we cannot hold discussions under bombs," Macron added. Trump told Zelensky at the start of the meeting: "I have a feeling you and President Putin are going to work something out. Ultimately, this is a decision that can only be made by President Zelensky and by the people of Ukraine working also together in agreement with President Putin. And I just think that very good things are going to come of it." By the end of the day, Zelensky told reporters he is ready for "any format" of a meeting with Putin and said he would also participate in a trilateral meeting if there is progress in the first one. "I believe unconditionally we should meet and think about the further development of this path of the war," he said. Zelensky told reporters that the security guarantees included plans for Ukraine to purchase $90 billion in American weapons through European funding. Zelensky also said he and Trump had a long discussion about a map in the Oval Office, showing Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine. Rutte said Ukrainian territory was not discussed during the broader Monday meetings. Zelensky arrived around 1 p.m. EDT on Monday along with several EU leaders. Trump and Zelensky sat in the Oval Office, mirroring their meeting earlier this year. This time, they avoided the dramatic shouting match from six months ago in the same space. During the February exchange, Trump and Vance accused Zelensky of being "disrespectful" toward the United States and the Trump administration. Zelensky was much more complimentary during Monday's meeting, immediately thanking Trump for his efforts to stop Russia's war. Vance, who was in the Oval Office, said nothing this time. The meeting came after Trump's summit with Putin on Friday in Alaska. European Council leaders are scheduled to meet via videoconference Tuesday to discuss the meeting. The council's president, Antonio Costa, called the conference, he announced on X Monday. "I have convened a video conference of the members of the European Council for tomorrow at 1 p.m. CEST, for a debriefing of today's meetings in Washington, D.C., about Ukraine," Costa wrote. "Together with the U.S., the EU will continue working towards a lasting peace that safeguards Ukraine's and Europe's vital security interests." European leaders, including Rutte, Starmer, Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, accompanied Zelensky to Washington for the talks.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
It's too late for buyer's remorse. Why L.A. can't back out of hosting 2028 Olympics
The Great Depression threatened the 1932 Olympics. A pandemic raged during the 2021 Tokyo Games. Parisians planned a "poop protest" in the Seine before the 2024 Games. From natural disasters, construction woes or unpopular opinion, every Olympics has faced threats in the planning process. Yet nearly every time, the city, ready or not, still hosted the Games. With less than three years before the L.A. Olympics, calls on social media for the city to withdraw or cancel have intensified. Wildfires devastated Pacific Palisades and Altadena in January. L.A. had to balance a $1-billion deficit. Immigration raids have put communities on edge while President Trump has threatened further military intervention. But Olympic preparations press forward. So invested in the success of the 2028 Games, the International Olympic Committee allowed venue naming rights for the first time in history. LA28, the private group responsible for organizing the Games, has contracted more than 70% of its $2.5-billion sponsorship goal, with more deals coming. No matter the calls for withdrawal, the prospect remains almost impossible. 'There's no buyer's remorse,' said Michael Payne, a sports marketer and former longtime IOC executive. Can L.A. back out of the Olympics? Legally, no. Host cities and host country national organizing committees (in this country, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee) sign a host city contract (HCC) after the IOC officially awards the Games. The contract for the 2028 Games, signed by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti and then-City Council President Herb Wesson in September 2017, states procedures for termination from the IOC's perspective but doesn't leave the same option for the host city or the national organizing committee. 'While one cannot foreclose all potential theories, it is hard to imagine a scenario where Los Angeles could terminate the HCC without facing substantial legal issues,' Nathan O'Malley, an international arbitration lawyer and a partner at Musick, Peeler & Garrett, wrote in an email. 'Especially if the reason for ending the contract was a political disagreement between the federal, state and local branches of government.' The HCC keeps the door cracked open by saying the Olympic organizing committee could request the IOC to consider 'undue hardship … which could not reasonably have been foreseen.' But it does not obligate the IOC to make changes, cancel or assume liability. Read more: Your guide to official venues for 2028 L.A. Olympics and Paralympics Even the COVID-19 pandemic was not enough to reach this standard. After an initial one-year delay of the Tokyo Games, medical professionals pleaded to cancel amid rising COVID cases. Public sentiment soured drastically, with protests in the streets and a March 2021 poll by Asahi Shimbun, one of the most prominent newspapers in Japan, finding that 83% of voters believed that the Olympics set to take place that summer should be postponed or canceled. But, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said, only 'the IOC has the authority to decide.' Breaching the contract could have put Tokyo in danger of being sued by the IOC for $4 billion to $5 billion, economist Andrew Zimbalist told Yahoo Sports in 2021. The Nomura Research Institute estimated the total cost of cancellation to be 1.8 trillion yen — about $16.6 billion. When can the IOC move or cancel the Olympics? The IOC can terminate the HCC and withdraw the Games from a host city if the host country 'is at any time … in a state of war, civil disorder, boycott, embargo decreed by the international community or in a situation officially recognized as one of belligerence or if the IOC has reasonable grounds to believe that the health or safety of participants in the Games would be seriously threatened or jeopardized for any reason.' The procedure to terminate the Games requires the IOC to officially put the host city, the host national Olympic committee and the Olympic organizing committee on notice, which leaves them 60 days to address the problems. If the problems persist, the IOC can withdraw the Games. While the IOC could make the ultimate decision to pull the Games, the host city, the host national Olympic committee and the Olympic organizing committee would still be responsible for costs incurred and lost revenue, according to the HCC. If the IOC were to sue for damages — whether it pulled the Games or if L.A. broke the contract — the amount would be decided by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). 'In terms of quantifying what the damages would be, particularly this close to the Games if they did not have access to terminate, [withdrawing] would be exposing L.A. to quite a bit of liability just to pull the plug on this without any other basis,' said Maureen Weston, a law professor at Pepperdine. What are the biggest risks to the L.A. Olympics now? The biggest — and most expensive — hurdle for most Olympic planning is construction. L.A., which touted its multitude of existing venues during its initial bidding process, is already ahead of the curve. 'From where I sit, they're probably better prepared than any city has ever been,' said Payne, who led the IOC's marketing for 20 years and advised on the successful host bids for the 2012, 2016 and 2028 Games. 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'Typically there's coordination between the local, city government, where the Olympics are being hosted, and the federal government, positive, collaborative energy,' Boykoff said. 'And there's not that at all with this.' What influence will President Trump have? Following precedent from the 1996 and 2002 Olympics, the 2028 task force will be focused on security, transportation and entry/exit policies. Then-Vice President Al Gore chaired both the 1996 and 2002 Olympics task forces. Trump installed himself as the task force chair for the 2028 Games. 'I think in general, these task forces are not run by the people that are chairing them, really,' Boykoff said. 'I think that the actual day-to-day machinations will not be overseen by the President. … So I view it as more of sort of a prestige post that he's giving himself to look important. And I think it signals that he really values the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics coming off [well].' Among other responsibilities, the task force, which will be led by an executive director, will 'assist in the planning and implementation of visa processing and credentialing programs for foreign athletes, coaches, officials, and media personnel.' Accredited Games personnel from every country must be allowed entry into the United States, and any sign of travel limitations on Games participants could be in violation of the HCC, prompting potential termination. LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman has emphasized that he has assurances from the federal government that the United States will be open, despite recent travel bans and tighter scrutiny of international travelers arriving in the U.S. Trump's June proclamation includes exemptions for athletes, team personnel or immediate relatives entering the country for the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State. But in the two months since the ban, visas have been denied for athletes, including the Cuban women's volleyball team traveling for a tournament in Puerto Rico, a baseball team from Venezuela that qualified to play in the Senior League Baseball World Series and Senegal's women's basketball team preparing for a training camp. 'The international community has to believe that the U.S. will fulfill our obligations,' Weston said, 'and that people coming from around the world to not only participate in the Games, but to attend and to support the Games as spectators, as fans, staff, personnel, that they're welcome here, they are safe.' Have the Olympics ever been moved? Denver, which was awarded the 1976 Winter Olympics, is the only city to reject the Olympics after it was selected by the IOC. Organizers won the host position in 1970 with a bid that misrepresented the city's Olympic capabilities, said Adam Berg, the author of 'The Olympics that Never Happened: Denver '76 and the Politics of Growth.' The overconfident committee hypothetically placed skiing sports in areas with no anticipated snowfall. Wanting to appease the IOC's desire to put all events within a one-hour radius from the Olympic Village or the main stadium, the organizing committee chose venues that were close in proximity, but had no realistic ability to host sports. Read more: Lopez: Three years away from the Olympics, L.A. is tripping over hurdles and trying to play catchup When organizers started to rework the plans to be more realistic and budgets soared, politicians and citizens grew concerned. In November 1972, voters approved an initiative that barred Olympic organizers from using public funds on venue construction. Without the funding, organizers could not proceed, and the IOC relocated the event to Innsbruck, Austria, which had hosted the 1964 Winter Olympics. But 50 years later, it's unlikely that there could be a repeat. The 1976 Winter Olympics had 1,123 athletes. L.A. will be the largest Olympic Games ever with 11,198 athletes. It'll bring the Paralympics to the city for the first time. Needing to find a new host on short notice for an event that has grown exponentially both in competition and TV production since Denver's sudden switch would be a nearly impossible task. 'It's literally a totally different universe,' Payne said of comparisons between Denver and L.A. Denver avoided paying massive damages, Berg said. But the IOC, which goes through a more extensive bid evaluation process now, had yet to harness the financial power of the Olympics and broadcasting partners in 1972. Today's iron-clad host city contract had not yet been formalized. 'The International Olympic Committee has really tightened up its fiscal ship over the years,' Boykoff said, 'and always to its own advantage.' What other cities could host? If any city should be ready to host the biggest Olympics in history, it should be L.A. Not only because of the existing venues, but because of the unprecedented 11-year planning time after the IOC awarded the Games in 2017. Now with less than three years remaining, relocating to a city that would likely have to build new venues would be unrealistic for the IOC. Read more: L.A. city leaders are in high-stakes negotiations on Olympics costs 'The IOC is really in a bind too,' said Mark Dyreson, a sports historian at Penn State. While there has never been an official backup option named, L.A. is often in the conversation. The city volunteered as a potential emergency host when the 1924 Paris Olympics were threatened by severe floods. Although the Olympics remained in the City of Light, Dyreson said L.A.'s offer was the first step of getting on the IOC's radar to eventually earn the 1932 Games. When Athens, Greece, struggled to keep pace with venue deadlines for the 2004 Games, the IOC coordination committee publicly criticized organizers for the construction debacle. There were whispers that L.A. could be ready at a moment's notice. Now the idea of moving the Olympics from L.A. would be a major role-reversal for the city that had historically been seen as a viable backup. 'For Los Angeles, a city whose identity is partly predicated on staging the Olympics twice, and now having a third time,' Dyreson said, 'I think it would be really, really difficult for L.A. to give up the Olympics.' The Games run through the heart of L.A.: Olympic Boulevard, formerly 10th Street, was named for the 10th Olympic Games in 1932. Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
How Trump introduced European leaders
President Trump met with European leaders on Monday to discuss the war in Ukraine alongside the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, amid a push from the White House for an end to the conflict. Among those who participated in the meeting included German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. As the meeting kicked off, Trump gave his fellow world leaders colorful introductions, using descriptions such as 'great political leader,' 'my friend' and 'an inspiration.' Here's how the leaders got introduced by Trump at the meeting; NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte Trump referred to Rutte as 'a great gentleman, great — great political leader in Europe, generally, but now he's the NATO secretary-general and you're doing a fantastic job.' Ahead of Friday's meeting between Trump and Putin, Rutte said the alliance is 'making sure that Ukraine has what it needs to stay in the fight British Prime Minister Keir Starmer 'Prime Minister Starmer of the United Kingdom, our friend and my friend and doing really well,' Trump said of Starmer at the top of the meeting. 'And people like him a lot. We all like him.' After February's rocky meeting between Zelensky and Trump, Starmer offered a warm embrace of the Ukrainian President. 'You have full backing from the United Kingdom, and we stand with you with Ukraine for as long as it may take,' Starmer, said during a presser with Zelensky in March. French President Emmanuel Macron Trump especially heaped praise upon Macron when introducing him, saying he 'liked him from day one.' 'Everyone knows President Macron of France, who's been with me from the beginning, one of the first people I met as a foreign dignitary, and I liked him from day one,' Trump said. 'And I like him even more now.' 'That's pretty good, that's unusual,' the president remarked. 'That's a pretty unusual thing.' Earlier this year, Macron praised Trump after Trump called for Russia and Ukraine to agree to a 30-day ceasefire or face potential sanctions. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Trump called Meloni 'a really great leader and an inspiration over there,' most likely referring to her country. 'She's served now, even though she's a very young person, she's served there for a long period of time relative to others. They don't — they don't last very long, you've lasted a long time. You're going to be there a long time.' As the head of a far-right party, Meloni is ideologically aligned with Trump on several political and social issues. But stark differences have emerged in Meloni's unwavering support for Ukraine after Russia's invasion in February 2022. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz Merz was described by Trump as 'a very strong person and a very strong leader and very highly respected in Germany, and he's my friend and it's an honor to have him as my friend, thank you very much.' Trump also added that Merz appeared 'great with' a 'tan.' Merz's election in February gave Ukraine a strong supporter in Germany. He has joined Trump's push for a ceasefire deal in the war with Russia, while also positioning Germany to better support Ukraine without the U.S. Finnish President Alexander Stubb Trump appeared confused about where Stubb was at the table during the meeting at first, with a voice chiming in a second later saying, 'I'm right here.' 'Oh, you look better than I've ever seen you look,' Trump said. 'But you've done a great job and we wanted to have you here, because you're somebody that we all respect. And, you've had a lot to do with the success, I think and the potential success and thank you very much for being here, we appreciate it.' Stubb and Trump played golf together in March. At the time, Stubb said Trump seemed to be growing 'impatient' with Putin, who rejected a U.S. ceasefire proposal and added various conditions to a more limited deal. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Trump noted a recent trade deal with von der Leyen, calling her 'somebody that we just made a big deal with.' 'With all of those countries, I don't know, I think you might be more powerful than all these guys at this table, I don't know,' Trump added. Von der Leyen said in a post on the social platform X on Sunday that she was joining the meeting 'at the request of President Zelenskyy.'
