International Olympic Committee has no right to become ‘gender police’ of the world
This joint statement was originally published on the Sports & Rights Alliance. It was coordinated by the Sport & Rights Alliance, ILGA World, and Humans of Sport, and signed by over 130 civil society organisations worldwide.
Update on 27 March: The International Olympic Committee announced that it would ban women athletes from taking part in the “female category” at any future Games, including the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. All athletes aspiring to compete in this category in the future will be subjected to a unique intrusive “sex determining region Y gene (SRY)” test aiming to “detect their biological sex”.
(Amsterdam, March 17, 2026) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) should abandon potential plans to mandate genetic sex testing and ban transgender and intersex athletes, the Sport & Rights Alliance (SRA), ILGA World, Humans of Sport and over 100 other allied organizations said in a joint statement released today.
Multiple sources have reported that the opaque “Working Group on the protection of the female category,” has recommended the IOC implement universal genetic sex testing of all women and girl athletes and a complete ban on transgender and intersex athletes. This would constitute an astounding rollback on gender equality and set women’s sport back 30 years.
“A sex testing and blanket ban policy would be a catastrophic erosion of women’s rights and safety” said Andrea Florence, Executive Director of the Sport & Rights Alliance. “Gender policing and exclusion harms all women and girls, and undermines the very dignity and fairness the IOC claims to uphold. Our concerns are compounded by the fact that the IOC also seems to be, at the same time, divesting from the safe sport infrastructure that actually provides protection for women and girls.”
After the 1996 Olympic Games, the IOC voted to discontinue universal sex testing for being scientifically and ethically unjustifiable, since it was an inaccurate test of both sex and athletic advantage and was resulting in considerable harm to affected athletes. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Women, the World Medical Association, American Medical Association and, most recently, a group of independent UN experts have long condemned sex testing and medically unnecessary interventions as discriminatory, unethical, and harmful.
“Requiring women and girls to undergo mandatory genetic screening just to participate in sport would revive a practice that – even if it’s a ‘one-time test’ – violates women’s and girls’ privacy, exposes them to extreme public scrutiny, humiliation, and opens a pathway to medically unnecessary interventions,” said Dr. Payoshni Mitra, Executive Director of Humans of Sport. “People often forget that child athletes compete at the Olympics and international competitions – this policy would cause massive safeguarding risks by requiring young women and children’s bodies to be investigated and their intimate health information disclosed, potentially leading to permanent harm to their dignity, mental health, and safety.”
Banning transgender and intersex athletes in the name of “fairness” ignores the reality that these athletes are some of the most stigmatized groups in sport, disproportionately facing barriers to access, widespread harassment and abuse, and other disadvantages. There is no evidence that policing women’s and children’s bodies improves fairness or gender equality; instead, it shifts the focus away from real issues like unequal funding, access to training, pay disparities, and gender-based violence in sport.
“Sport should be a place of belonging,” said Julia Ehrt, Executive Director of ILGA World. “We urge the IOC to prioritize safety over politics and not allow a policy that actively puts all women at risk. Invasive policing of women’s bodies should concern everyone as it reinforces harmful stereotypes and exposes all women and LGBTI athletes to further harassment and scrutiny.”
This new policy would represent a total reversal of the IOC’s own 2021 Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination – a widely-respected document informed by extensive research and engagement with over 250 athletes and experts, which recognized the need for evidence-based, sport-specific, and rights-respecting eligibility rules. The IOC has ignored repeated requests for transparency on the Working Group’s approach and genuine consultation with impacted athletes, leading researchers on trans and intersex athletic performance, and human rights experts.The IOC should adhere to its own good governance standards, and ensure independent scientific and human rights scrutiny.
“The IOC must not turn its back on women and girls of color,” said Francine Niyonsaba, Olympic Silver medalist from Burundi. “I gave so much time and effort to building the 2021 Framework and have repeatedly shared my views. I hope the IOC will not ignore us. As a Black African woman, I ask the IOC to ensure international sport upholds athletes’ human rights and does not promote institutionalised discrimination.”
In recent years, sport eligibility regulations have targeted women of color from the Global South, often with no evidence and on the basis of appearance. Mandatory genetic sex testing stems directly from these efforts and will continue to disproportionately harm these women and girls who are already more likely to face discrimination and barriers to access sport.
“As an Olympian who competed against Caster Semenya in the 2009 World Championships, I know first hand that inclusion does not come at the expense of fairness,” said Dr Madeleine Pape, sociologist at the University of Lausanne. “It would be devastating to see the IOC reject fair and evidence-based policymaking in favor of an irresponsible and politically expedient position, while ignoring the actual needs of women and girls in sport. The Olympic Movement deserves better than that.”
Finally, the IOC and International Federations (IFs) are in no position to oversee how mandatory genetic screening will be implemented across 200+ diverse national contexts. While this has the potential to harm all women and girls, the harms would be particularly pronounced in Global South countries that have fewer resources and protections for athletes. According to the U.S.-based non-profit The Inclusion Playbook, the sex verification testing proposed by the IOC can cost upwards of $10,000 USD per athlete; how IFs or other governing bodies will pay for these costs remains to be seen.
The Sport & Rights Alliance, ILGA World, Humans of Sport and the undersigned organizations call on the IOC to immediately reverse these plans to sex test and ban women on the basis of their chromosome status, and to fulfill its commitments in the Olympic Charter to ensure that every individual has “access to the practice of sport, without discrimination of any kind in respect of internationally recognised human rights.”