The Culture Media and Sport Committee has today published a letter
from Secretary of State for CMS, , regarding the Government's
stance on boycotting international sporting events, in response
to increasing calls for the English men's cricket team to boycott
their upcoming match with Afghanistan.
The CMS Secretary's letter comes in response to the Committee's letter to
her, dated 20 January. The Committee raised concerns of the
“erasure” of women's rights under the Taliban, and failure of
international sporting bodies such as the International Cricket
Council (ICC) and FIFA to formally recognise the Afghanistan
women's teams whilst allowing Taliban-backed men's teams to play
in international sporting events. The Committee's letter called
on Ms Nandy to answer the following questions:
- In what circumstances would the Government support a boycott
by our teams due to be playing Taliban-backed athletes?
- Will the Government make representations to the ICC, FIFA and
International Olympics Committee to find a consistent solution
that upholds the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan?
- What plans does the Government have to use the convening
power of sport to bring a coalition of nations together for a
coordinated approach on this matter?
In her response, Ms Nandy said the Government stands by its
position that it would not support a boycott, and that it is for
the English and Welsh Cricket Board and FA to engage with their
international counterparts. She writes:
“While we appreciate that boycotts can be a powerful
symbolic tool and recognise the importance of focusing on human
rights issues in sport, we believe sport boycotts to be
counter-productive as they penalise our hard-working athletes.
They are not the people we should be penalising for the Taliban's
appalling actions against women and girls.”
However, Ms Nandy states that the Government is “considering
the full range of levers at [its] disposal”, and that the
ICC should “provide an explanation as to why they are not
adhering to their own membership rules”.
CMS Committee Chair MP said:
“We thank the Secretary of State for her engagement, and
agree that boycotts are a blunt tool, however she refers to a
‘full range of levers', but what are these and what meaningful
difference will they make? There must come a point at which our
government joins with other democracies that stand up for the
rights of women and girls, and say to the ICC and other sporting
bodies – “you either obey your own rules on gender equality and
let Afghan women play, or you obey the Taliban'.”
