A global coalition of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hongkongers and others today called for a complete boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, as it would happen amid one of the world’s worst crackdowns against freedom, democracy, and human rights.
The groups, including World Uyghur Congress, Students for a Free Tibet, Campaign for Uyghurs, We The Hongkongers, Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center, China Against the Death Penalty, Keep Taiwan Free and Tibet Action Institute have voiced their deep concern about the human rights abuses against minorities in China, saying "a genocide must be our red line".
In a joint statement Monday, they said participating in the Beijing Olympic Games at this time would be tantamount to endorsing China’s genocide against the Uyghur people, and legitimizing the increasingly repressive policies of the totalitarian Chinese regime.
"We call on all governments and people, including all National Olympic Committees and Olympic athletes, to boycott the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. 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. At the same time, the Chinese Communist Party is engaged in a merciless crackdown on Chinese human rights defenders, activists, faith communities and journalists, and implementing an intense strategy of intimidation and geopolitical bullying against Taiwan," it said.
The coalition alleged that 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 is now up to the international community to take action. In particular, we believe athletes are people of conscience who have the power to use their platforms to stop injustice. We call on them, and those who believe in the right of all people to exist and to live free from fear and oppression, to join our movement. Together we will stand against genocide and crimes against humanity and take action for democracy, freedom and human rights," the joint statement mentioned.
They reminded everyone that the US State Department, the United Kingdom, Canadian and Dutch parliaments, and international legal experts have recognized China’s atrocities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as a 'genocide'.
Giving a background information along with a call for the boycott of the Games, the coalition said that at least two million Uyghur, Kazakh and Uzbek Muslims are detained in 're-education camps' undergoing systematic torture, rape and political re-education while 'illegally occupied' Tibet received the lowest score in Freedom House’s 2020 global ranking on civil and political rights, alongside Syria.
It added that in Hong Kong, the Chinese government has implemented a draconian National Security Bill that effectively criminalizes protest and curtails any remaining human rights and protests by Southern Mongolians, whose rights, language and culture being eradicated, are put down with force.
"Meanwhile, detention and disappearance of countless Chinese lawyers, feminists & activists, and- Intimidation, and geopolitical bullying of Taiwan and aggression and expansion across borders – in the South China Sea and India-Tibet border – present a clear threat to regional and global security," the statement detailed.
China, meanwhile, has maintained that it firmly opposes politicization of sports, which will hurt all athletes' right to fair competition in the end.
"US politicians have no right to hijack US athletes' right to fair competition in the games. Their attempt to interfere in China's domestic affairs by abusing the Olympics is doomed to fail and will be disdained and rejected by the international community," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying had said on May 13 when asked about the US claims that Beijing intends to use the Winter Olympics as a platform to "paper over their gross human rights violations".
