IOC shuts down 12 committees in switch to smaller expert advisory groups

The International Olympic Committee is shutting down 12 of its permanent commissions and will instead create smaller expert advisory panels when needed, a streamlining and cost-cutting move that reduces its committee count from 31 to 19, the IOC said on Friday in Lausanne (Associated Press).

Among the bodies being discontinued are the commissions for human rights, gender equality, sustainability, technology, athletes’ entourage and digital engagement. The IOC Advisory Committee on Human Rights, chaired by former South African deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and the Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion commission will both be wound up. The full list of 12 discontinued commissions is published in the IOC’s official statement.

The move continues a pattern under IOC president Kirsty Coventry, now in her second year, of using smaller working groups for key issues: a March review of “protection of the female category” in sport was handed to an expert panel whose membership was kept confidential rather than the in-house gender equality commission.

The commissions typically comprised between 10 and 30 members who met annually in Lausanne. The IOC said the switch to ad-hoc working groups will allow “targeted engagement on key strategic priorities and policy development.”