ABSTRACT
Since the 2008 Beijing Olympics concerns about human rights and their violation seem to be everywhere in mainstream sports. But despite the foundational status of human rights for SDP, current discussions and analyses of SDP rarely refer to human rights.
Recognizing this, the chapter begins with a consideration of human rights in ‘the age of rights’, and a reflection on the paradoxical and asymmetric use of human rights. I then address the growing attention paid to human rights in studies of sport, followed by a critical analysis of the relationships between human rights and SDP. The chapter concludes with some suggestions for strengthening those relationships, and I argue that a more complete acknowledgement and implementation of human rights, and particularly the right to self-determination, is crucial if SDP is to shed its neocolonial tendencies.
