• The Owner  >> Olympics Committee Accused of Double Standard on Human Rights Ahead of Beijing 2022
  • .

Olympics Committee Accused of Double Standard on Human Rights Ahead of Beijing 2022

Published:  


A CCTV camera footage of blindfolded and cuffed detained, allegedly Uyghurs, being loaded on to trains in Communist China. (Archives)



A group of organisations representing persecuted minorities in Communist China in a special letter challenged the passiveness of International Olympics Committee regarding the widespread reports about the human rights violations by Beijing that will host 2022 Winter Olympics.




The representatives of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hongkongers, and other nations in Mainland China have sent an open letter to IOC President Thomas Bach and IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., who oversees preparations for the Beijing Games.

The open letter calls the behavior of the Olympic Committee a willful ignorance, which is shameful and fails to value the personal experiences of those who are struggling under the repressive regime of Communist China.

It also emphasises that the IOC would always explain its unwillingness to punish China for human rights violations by the political neutrality of the sports organisation.

The IOC has failed to act on these reports and has instead turned a blind eye to the widespread and systematic human rights violations being committed by the Chinese authorities, the authors of the letter stressed.

In the light of the Olympic Committee sanctions against Belorussia
negates the argument of political neutrality of the sport organisation.

But the argument of political neutrality does not hold anymore after the Committee punished the Belorussian regime, the letter suggested.

On December 2, the IOC banned Belorussian dictator and two other officials from attending the Olympic Games as part of provisional sanctions.

The IOC has come to the conclusion that it appears that the current leadership has not appropriately protected the Belarussian athletes from political discrimination within the NOC, their member federations or the sports movement, IOC President Thomas Bach said at that time.

The representatives of Students For A Free Tibet, International Tibet Network, World Uyghur Congress, We The Hongkongers, and China Against The Death Penalty, the open letter's signatories, called out the double standard of the IOC that failed to apply the same standard towards Communist China's human rights violators.

The Olympic Committee must hold all governments across the world
to the same standards regarding the protection of human rights.

 

The IOC must hold all governments across the world to the same standards as a necessary approach to meet the IOC’s commitments to the Olympic Charter and adhere to corporate responsibility to protect human rights as elaborated in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, particularly given its Permanent Observer Status at the United Nations.

Forced labor, torture and forced sterilization and abortion are being widely reported in Xinjaing. The treatment of the religious minority has been termed “cultural genocide” or “ethnic cleansing.”

Beginning with the 2024 Olympics in Paris, cities will have to adhere to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. However, China is not subject to these rules because the IOC mandated the provision after picking Beijing for 2022.

The sanctions imposed by the Olympic Committee on Belorussia officials suggest, that the IOC can take a moral stance on the fundamental issues and the sport is not indifferent to human rights, reminded groups representing persecuted in China.

 

 

 


Go back

Economy & Investment