{"id":12723,"date":"2022-01-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/nieuws\/beijing-olympics-begin-amid-atrocity-crimes-global-groups-call-for-action-on-rights-concerns\/"},"modified":"2022-01-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T23:00:00","slug":"beijing-olympics-begin-amid-atrocity-crimes-global-groups-call-for-action-on-rights-concerns","status":"publish","type":"nieuws","link":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/beijing-olympics-begin-amid-atrocity-crimes-global-groups-call-for-action-on-rights-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Beijing Olympics Begin Amid Atrocity Crimes – Global Groups Call for Action on Rights Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Below is a joint statement from over 240 nongovernmental organizations, including the International Campaign for Tibet, calling for a diplomatic boycott and other actions related to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Geneva) \u2013 The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will open amid atrocity crimes and other grave human rights violations by the Chinese government, nongovernmental organizations from around the world said today. The groups urged governments to join a diplomatic boycott of the Games, slated to begin February 4, 2022, and for athletes and sponsors not to legitimize government abuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not possible for the Olympic Games to be a \u2018force for good,\u2019 as the International Olympic Committee claims, while the host government is committing grave crimes in violation of international law,\u201d said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under President Xi Jinping, Chinese authorities have been committing mass abuses against Uyghurs, Tibetans, ethnic groups, and religious believers from all independent faith groups. They have eliminated independent civil society by persecuting human rights activists, feminists, lawyers, journalists, and others. The government has eviscerated a once-vibrant civil society in Hong Kong, expanded tech-enabled surveillance to significantly curtail the rights to expression, association, and peaceful assembly, and allowed the use of forced labor, in violation of international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese authorities also continue to threaten members of diaspora communities, public figures, and companies beyond China\u2019s borders through a sophisticated campaign of transnational repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat the Winter Olympics is held in Beijing sends a signal to the world that Xi Jinping\u2019s government is normal,\u201d said Renee Xia, Director of Chinese Human Rights Defenders. \u201cWhen the world rationalizes away such an abusive situation, it makes it harder for victims to stand up against injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Chinese government was awarded the 2022 Winter Games in 2015, nongovernmental organizations and media outlets have documented numerous serious human rights violations by Chinese authorities. Those include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Arbitrary detention, torture, and forced labor of millions of Uyghurs and other Turkic groups in Xinjiang (the Uyghur region);
\u2022 Decimation of independent media, democratic institutions, and rule of law in Hong Kong;
\u2022 High-tech surveillance systems enabling authorities to track and unjustly prosecute peaceful conduct, including criticism shared through apps, such as WeChat;
\u2022 Prosecution of people exercising rights to free expression, peaceful assembly, and association on behalf of vulnerable populations, including the lawyers Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi, the citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, the Tibetan monk and writer Go Sherab Gyatso, and public health activists known as the Changsha Funeng group; and
\u2022 Arbitrary detention, torture, and forcible disappearance of human rights defenders, including Gao Zhisheng and Guo Feixiong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe spectacle of the Olympics cannot cover up genocide,\u201d said Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to understand why anyone feels it\u2019s even possible to celebrate international friendship and \u2018Olympic values\u2019 in Beijing this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said that its human rights obligations, announced in 2017, do not apply to the 2022 Winter Games. The IOC has not met its responsibilities under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights by carrying out human rights due diligence despite the well-documented abuses in China, the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other respects, the IOC has shown that its stated commitment to human rights means little. IOC President Thomas Bach participated in a Chinese government propaganda campaign to whitewash the sexual assault allegations brought by three-time Olympian Peng Shuai. The IOC has been unwilling to meet with the End Uyghur Forced Labor (EUFL) coalition, and has sported uniforms made by a company credibly alleged to use forced labor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe IOC claims that sport and politics do not mix, but the Chinese government was the one that used the 2008 Beijing Olympics to serve its political interests,\u201d said Bhuchung K. Tsering, interim president of the International Campaign for Tibet. \u201cTibetans in Tibet then took the risk to tell the world about this, but the IOC didn\u2019t pay heed. The upcoming Beijing Olympics is a unique opportunity for the IOC and governments to empower their athletes and press Chinese authorities to abide by international norms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top corporate sponsors of the Games \u2013 Airbnb, Alibaba, Allianz, Atos, Bridgestone, Coca-Cola, Intel, Omega, Panasonic, P&G, Samsung, Toyota, and Visa \u2013 have also not fulfilled their human rights due diligence responsibilities. The companies have not provided meaningful public responses to concerns that their sponsorship creates or contributes to human rights violations, or whether they have acted to mitigate those violations. Sponsors should immediately disclose their human rights due diligence strategies, or explain their failure to carry out such assessments, the groups said.
Several governments, including Australia, Canada, Japan, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, and the United States, have announced a diplomatic boycott of the Games in response to the Chinese government\u2019s human rights abuses. They will send no senior officials \u2013 a longstanding Olympic tradition \u2013 to the opening or closing ceremonies. All governments, whether joining the diplomatic boycott or not, should use the opportunity to not only support the athletes participating in the Games, but also demonstrate concrete support for human rights defenders across China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe urge governments to send messages of support to human rights defenders in prison or detention who are paying a great price for advocating reform, defending the rights of others, or simply discussing ways to strengthen civil society in China,\u201d said Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those participating in the Beijing Olympics face a host of human rights risks, the groups said. IOC rules prohibit athletes from publicly expressing their views on human rights in China on the Olympic podium, and Chinese authorities\u2019 retaliation against critics creates a chill for athletes worldwide. The Chinese government\u2019s willingness to arbitrarily detain foreigners for peaceful criticism, such as the Swedish publisher Gui Minhai, further limits free speech. Olympic athletes, coaches, and other support staff are also likely to be subjected to pervasive state surveillance, particularly through monitoring of digital communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAthletes upholding Olympic ideals should not have to face omnipresent surveillance, repression of free speech or belief, and an insecure human rights environment to participate in the Games,\u201d said Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spectators around the world watching the Winter Games can play a positive role by educating themselves about the human rights environment inside China, and can take actions ranging from purchasing products not made with forced labor to encouraging their own governments to pursue accountability for Chinese government officials responsible for the worst international crimes. People can urge companies to sign the EUFL coalition\u2019s Call to Action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe stark reality of the Chinese government\u2019s atrocity crimes and ongoing impunity should compel the IOC, sponsors, and others associated with the Olympics to question whether these Games are legitimizing and prolonging grave abuses,\u201d said Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress. \u201cNo one should want another Olympics like this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of 243 nongovernmental organizations from around the world – including ICT – has urged governments to join a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in China, and for athletes and sponsors not to legitimize government abuses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12724,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categorie":[691],"news_tag":[],"class_list":["post-12723","nieuws","type-nieuws","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categorie-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBeijing Olympics Begin Amid Atrocity Crimes - Global Groups Call for Action on Rights Concerns - Campaign for Tibet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/beijing-olympics-begin-amid-atrocity-crimes-global-groups-call-for-action-on-rights-concerns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beijing Olympics Begin Amid Atrocity Crimes - 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