The International Olympic Committee is shutting down 12 permanent committees, including those focused on human rights and gender issues, and will create expert panels when needed instead. The streamlining and cost-cutting move leaves 19 committees in place. The announcement was made Friday in Lausanne, Switzerland.
IOC president Kirsty Coventry, in her second year in the role, has already relied on appointing smaller working groups for key issues. A March review of the "protection of the female category" in sports was assigned to an expert panel whose membership was kept confidential, rather than to the in-house Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commission. That commission will now be shut down, as will the IOC Advisory Committee on Human Rights, chaired by former South African deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Other commissions being scrapped include those for sustainability, technology, athletes' entourage and digital engagement. The committees typically consisted of 10 to as many as 30 members who gathered in Lausanne for annual meetings.
The IOC said in a statement that the switch to ad hoc working groups will allow "targeted engagement on key strategic priorities and policy development."
Source: ESPN General · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing