Discrimination

BattleCorp1

Many sporting organisations are banning Russian athletes, e.g. the International Paralympic Committee has just banned all Russian and Belarus paralympic athletes from the Winter games in Beijing.

If an Irish based sporting organisation banned Russian athletes from competing in certain events, could that be considered discrimination under our laws? Is banning all Russian teams/athletes not discrimination on racial grounds (Nationality)?

Del2005

There are Asian, White and Black Russian's. They are being banned because there are Russian's not because of their race. We discriminate against Russian's already because they need visa to enter and someone with a passport from the USA doesn't.

Peregrinus

Discrimination on the grounds of national origin is just as illegal as discrimination on the grounds of racial origin.

But that doesn't mean that it would be illegal here. First, compliance with the law is never unlawful discrimination so, if there are legal sanctions put in place, in complying with them you won't be in breach of the Equal Status Act, even though the impact of the sanctions affects people of Russian nationality. Secondly, even if there is no legal obligation to apply sanctions, a sporting body might e.g. apply sanctions to Russian representative teams or competitors, and this would probably survive scrutiny. You wouldn't be acting against a particular athlete or a particular team because they are Russian, but rather because they are representing Russia. If they compete in a non-representative capacity they won't be affected by the sanctions.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118748921#Comment_118748921

Secondly, even if there is no legal obligation to apply sanctions, a sporting body might e.g. apply sanctions to Russian representative teams or competitors, and this would probably survive scrutiny. You wouldn't be acting against a particular athlete or a particular team because they are Russian, but rather because they are representing Russia. If they compete in a non-representative capacity they won't be affected by the sanctions.

I was surprised people didn’t seem to notice this in the Summer Olympics already. Russia have been banned from international sports competitions since 2019 for something which had nothing to do with the current situation. Athletes are still permitted to compete, they just don’t represent Russia -

Viewers tuning into the Winter Olympics will likely notice a group of athletes who will be competing not under their own flag, but rather under the iconic five-ring Olympic banner, and there is a specific reason why.

Those athletes are competing under the name of the “Russian Olympic Committee,” or ROC for short. That’s because Russia received a two-year ban from the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2019 for its state-sponsored doping program. Between Dec. 17, 2020, and Dec. 17, 2022, no athlete can represent Russia at the Olympics, Paralympics or World Championships.

The ban was originally set to last four years, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced it to two years. 

The years-long doping scheme was first revealed in 2016 by a whistleblower and included at least 15 medal winners from the 2014 Olympics, held in Sochi, Russia. 

In 2017, the International Olympic Committee suspended Russia. After an appeal by several Russian athletes who were not linked to the scheme, the Court of Arbitrations for Sport allowed Russian athletes to participate in global competitions as neutral competitors. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, Russian athletes who passed drug tests competed under the “Olympic Athletes from Russia,” or OAR, delegation.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/beijing-2022-winter-olympics/explainer-why-russian-athletes-are-competing-roc-olympics?amp

The part in that article that really surprised me was this tidbit -

Despite the sanctions and scrutiny, two OAR athletes failed doping tests at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and were later punished, including men’s curler Alexander Krushelnitskiy, who failed his test after winning a bronze medal in mixed doubles. He was suspended for four years, and he was stripped of his bronze medal.

I had no idea curling, of all sports I could think of, was such a competitive sport that some athletes would risk being disqualified to succeed. It always seemed like such a placid sport, like boules!

Actually, I take that back, good grief 😂

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/15/petanque-drug-allegations-cocaine-belgian-players

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118748921#Comment_118748921

You can discriminate black listed countries

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118749065#Comment_118749065

There's no general rule in the Equal Status Act or the Employment Equality Act that says the government can declare a country to be blacklisted, and thereafter discrimination against citizens of that country is automatically permitted in all circumstances.

The government has no general power to "blacklist" a country; it has specific powers under various different Acts to, e.g., prohibit financial transactions with the residents of a specified country; to prohibit flights between Ireland that that country; to impose other specified sanctions aimed at that country or its residents or citizens.

And, if it makes orders of this kind, in complying with these orders you will not be found to be in breach of the Equal Status Act or the Employment Equality Act.

But if the government doesn't order a particular sanction but you decide to impose it yourself - for example, you decide to fire all your staff (in Ireland) who are Russian citizens - yeah, you absolutely do have a problem under the equality legislation. That's discrimination on the grounds of nationality or national origins, both of which are generally forbidden. You would need to show that your discrimination was justified under one of the exemptions permitted in the Employment Equality Act. And I don't think that would be easy.