In this episode, Vincent and  Pedro José Mercado Jaén dive into the Human Rights Violations of the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics. We talk about athlete’s rights, civil rights, and the way how nature and indigenous people are either neglected by the nature of the Olympic Games. What stands out from this episode, that it’s not only authoritarian regimes that oppress minorities and disregard human rights…

Meet the guest 
Pedro is a PhD-researcher at the European University Institute in Florence, at the Law Department. There, he mainly looks at athletes rights and access to remedy. One central question in his research is how we can give justice to people that have been affected by mega sports events and the organising sports federations. 

Pedro is an avid runner himself, so you can actually also follow him on Strava too! Before he moved to Florence, he studied law in Granada and he did the Erasmus Mundus Masters In Sports Ethics and Integrity. He has also worked for the Centre for Sports and Human Rights in Geneva. 

Recommendation of the week 
Pedro firstly recommends people to inform themselves about the topic - and also he urges you to then share the information. If more people realise that the Olympics are not ‘just a beautiful event’, the more eyes will be opened.  

A good source of information to inform yourself, is the book ‘What Are the Olympics For’, by Jules Boykoff - whose personal website is an absolute academic delight. The book touches upon a lot of issues that Pedro and I discussed during the pod.

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In each episode of Radio Vinternational, host Vincent Hoffmans dives into one fascinating and hopefully informative international topic with a passionate expert. The mission is to showcase original and interesting perspectives on actual and historic international affairs, and to have fun!