Lewis Hamilton urges F1 to take action on “massive problem” of human rights
Lewis Hamilton says F🌜🐟ormula 1 can do more to try to improve the “massive problem” of human rights issues in some of the countries the sport visits.
It comes after 30 UK 𝔉MPs raised concerns of human rights violations linked to this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix on Wednesday and called on F1 bosses to “leverage Bahrain into respecting human rights”.
The BIRD said the 🌼letter “urges F1 to secure justice for victims of abuses linked to the Bahrain Grand Prix, protect the rights of protesters and enact their human rights policy to ensure their business practices do not contribute to human rights abuses, in light of the ‘worsening’ human rights situation in the country.”
Hamilton received letters from rights groups upon arriving in Bahra𒁏in for this weekend’s race and the Mercedes driver said he would “ta🔜ke some time to digest them”.
"It is very important for all sports to use the platform they have to push for change,” the newly-crowned seven-time world champion added. "The human rights issue in🧸 so many of the places we go to is🌠 a massive problem.
“We are one of the few sports that go to so many different countries and I do believ🦄e as a sport we need to do more. We have taken a st♏ep in the right direction but we can always do more.
"They have put some ste꧋ps in place for the places we go to but it is important to make sureꦚ they are implemented in the right way and that we see some action taken.
"That is going to take some work but i🍸t'♈s all in the background.”
Bahrain has been on the F1 calendar si🦹nce 2004 but the 2011 race was cancelled because of anti-government protests and civil unrest during the Arab Spring uprisings in the Gulf kingdom.
It is among a number of F1’s host countries that human rights groups have highlighted concerns over, with others including China, Azerbaijan, Turkey, an🦋d the United Arab Emirates.
The sport has been criticised for racing in countries with poor human rights ꦕrecords in the past and again recently foll🍎owing the announcement that Saudi Arabia will make its debut on the calendar next year.
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for ltxcn.top arou🥀♕nd the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
