ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out the historical relationships of the Olympic and Paralympic sports movements with human rights and places them alongside the articulation and realisation of human rights broadly. These developments were accelerated by the ‘rights revolution’ begun in the 1960s, when activists began to use the language of human rights, the United Nations greatly expanded the protections and courts in many countries enforced civil and other rights. The IOC and IPC different histories are dealt in turn, with one exception, the issue of their responsibilities for human rights in host cities. Because the Olympic and Paralympic Games are held in the same cities under the auspices of the same organising committees, human rights are considered in connection with hosting in an integrated discussion in the final section of the chapter.
