Rights groups call for boycott of 2022 Beijing Olympics over Uyghurs genocide
May 19, 2021
Beijing [China], May 19 : A coalition of human rights groups has called for a complete boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, saying that participating in the games would be tantamount to endorsing China's genocide against the Uyghur people".
A coalition representing Uyghurs, Tibetans, residents of Hong Kong and others issued a joint statement on Monday calling for the boycott.
It said that the Chinese government is committing genocide against the Uyghur people and waging an unprecedented campaign of repression in East Turkistan, Tibet and Southern Mongolia, as well as an all-out assault on democracy in Hong Kong.
"Participating in the Beijing Olympic Games at this time would be tantamount to endorsing China's genocide against the Uyghur people, and legitimising the increasingly repressive policies of the totalitarian Chinese regime," the coalition said in a statement.
"In spite of Beijing's failure to keep human rights promises made before the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, and despite repeated requests by affected peoples and human rights groups to move or delay the 2022 Beijing Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided to put profit before human lives and turn a blind eye to genocide," it added.
Demands for some form of boycott of the Beijing Games are continuously growing.
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for a "diplomatic boycott" of the Winter Olympics that are scheduled to take place in Beijing next year, over the human rights violations of Uyghurs in China.
Speaking at a hearing of Congress' Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Pelosi advocated for the United States to withhold any official delegation from traveling to the Games but allowing for athletes to compete in Beijing in 2022, reported The Hill.
China has been rebuked globally for cracking down on Uyghur Muslims by sending them to mass detention camps, interfering in their religious activities and sending members of the community to undergo some form of forcible re-education or indoctrination.
Early this year, the United States become the first country in the world to declare the Chinese actions in Xinjiang as "genocide".
In February, both the Canadian and Dutch parliaments adopted motions recognising the Uyghur crisis as genocide. The latter became the first parliament in Europe to do so. In April, the United Kingdom also declared China's ongoing crackdown in Xinjiang a "genocide".
