Amnesty International believes that athletes at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics must be able to speak freely about human rights abuses against Uighurs.
Athletes at the Beijing Winter Olympics must be able to speak freely about the human rights situation in China over the oppression of Muslim Uighurs, according to Amnesty International. "There must be no restrictions whatsoever here," Friederike Adamczak, the organization's spokeswoman in Germany, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. That must also apply to issues the Chinese government considers "sensitive," she said. "The International Olympic Committee is responsible for ensuring this."
In Amnesty's view, "crimes against humanity" are happening in China. "And they are taking place on at least three counts, namely with regard to detention, persecution and torture." A prominent example, he said, is the situation in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, where members of the predominantly Muslim Uighurs or Kazakhs have been targeted by the Chinese state. "There, the main issue is to deprive these people of their ethnic and religious identity."
Several countries worldwide have announced boycotts
Because of human rights violations in the host country China against the Uyghurs, the USA, Australia, Canada, Great Britain and New Zealand had already announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics, which begin on February 6. The German government has so far kept a low profile. There is also no common line on the issue within the EU. Last week, France's National Assembly officially described China's treatment of the Muslim Uyghurs as "genocide". read more