[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 466 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 466
Urging the International Olympic Committee to take into consideration
the mass detention of Uyghurs and consider all options to uphold the
fundamental rights of persecuted minorities in China ahead of the 2022
Olympic Games.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 8, 2021
Mr. Malinowski (for himself, Mr. Gallagher, Mr. Meeks, Mr. McCaul, Ms.
Wexton, Mrs. Kim of California, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Smith of New Jersey,
and Mrs. Wagner) submitted the following resolution; which was referred
to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Urging the International Olympic Committee to take into consideration
the mass detention of Uyghurs and consider all options to uphold the
fundamental rights of persecuted minorities in China ahead of the 2022
Olympic Games.
Whereas more than 1,000,000 ethnic Uyghurs have been detained in a continuing
campaign of mass arbitrary detention in camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur
Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China on the basis of
their ethnicity, culture, and religion, raising the spectre of crimes
against humanity and genocide;
Whereas authorities of the Government of China have reportedly imposed
widespread forced sterilization, abortions, and birth control against
Uyghur women, potentially representing a systematic campaign to prevent
births within a specific ethnic group;
Whereas there remain over 300 mass detention facilities in the Xinjiang Uyghur
Autonomous Region, including forced labor camps, ``re-education'' or
indoctrination camps, prisons, and other detention facilities, where
Uyghurs and other Muslim or Turkic minorities are arbitrarily detained,
over 60 of which have shown signs of expansion in the past year;
Whereas a recent Chinese Communist Party white paper claims that between 2014
and 2019, over 1,000,000 Uyghurs a year received ``vocational
training'', a euphemism understood to indicate political and linguistic
indoctrination accompanied by requirements that detainees renounce their
Uyghur religious and ethnic identity;
Whereas there have been multiple credible reports that detained Uyghurs are
subjected to torture and sexual abuse, as well as forced labor at
factories producing goods for export inside and outside the detention
facilities;
Whereas, in October 2020, 39 countries at the United Nations Third Committee of
the General Assembly appealed for action on the mass arbitrary
detentions and other crimes against the Uyghur Muslim population of the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
Whereas the 2018 concluding observations of the United Nations Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination decried reports of mass arbitrary
detention of Uyghurs;
Whereas over 400 international nongovernmental organizations have joined
together to decry the mass arbitrary detentions of Uyghurs in the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
Whereas the Olympic Charter states that the practice of sport ``is a human
right'' that ``shall be secured without discrimination of any kind, such
as race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political
or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other
status''--a right that by definition cannot be secured in a country in
which over 1,000,000 people are imprisoned in camps because of their
race, language, and religion;
Whereas the 2008 Olympics in Beijing were accompanied by widespread tracking,
arrest, and intimidation of foreign journalists and bloggers, as well as
restrictions on movement of journalists, contrary to explicit
commitments made by the Government of the People's Republic of China to
the International Olympic Committee;
Whereas the Government of China denied visas for some journalists granted press
accreditation for the 2008 Olympic Games, and the Beijing Organising
Committee of the Olympic Games repeatedly refused to address incidents
involving freedom of expression; and
Whereas the International Olympic Committee faced broad criticism for failing to
adequately anticipate infringements by the Government of the People's
Republic of China's on freedom of expression and press for international
media and 2008 Olympics participants, and failing to hold the Government
of the People's Republic of China to their own commitments to safeguard
human rights during the 2008 games: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives urges the International
Olympic Committee to--
(1) consider that the Olympic Charter's principles of
solidarity and nondiscrimination are hard to reconcile with
holding the 2022 Winter Games in a country the government of
which stands credibly accused of perpetrating crimes against
humanity and genocide against ethnic and religious minorities;
(2) take into account the recent precedent of the 2008
games, at which Olympic athletes, spectators, and international
media had their fundamental freedoms severely challenged, and
the likely limitations the Government of China will seek to
enforce on participants speaking out about ongoing persecution
of the Uyghurs and other human rights abuses in China, despite
repeated commitments by the Government of China;
(3) emphasize that the International Olympic Committee is
not opposed to moving an Olympic competition in all
circumstances, and will keep this option available as demanded
by the human rights situation, and initiate an emergency search
process for suitable replacement facilities for the 2022 Winter
Olympics if the Government of China fails to release all
arbitrarily held Uyghurs from mass detention centers and
prisons;
(4) affirm the International Olympic Committee's--
(A) desire to stay above politics does not permit
turning a blind eye to mass atrocity crimes, which
cannot and should not be dismissed as mere political
concerns; and
(B) commitment to the fundamental rights
instruments of the international system, which are
beyond partisan or domestic policy, and upon which the
success of the entire Olympic project depends; and
(5) propose a set of clear, executable actions to be taken
by the International Olympic Committee upon infringement of
freedom of expression by a host country's government during any
Olympics event, including the 2022 Winter Olympics, against
athletes, participants, and international media.
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