[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 812 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 812
Supporting a diplomatic boycott of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and
XIII Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, and encouraging the
International Olympic Committee to develop a framework for reprimanding
or disqualifying host countries that are committing mass atrocities.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 18, 2021
Mr. Langevin (for himself, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Curtis, and Ms.
Stefanik) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Supporting a diplomatic boycott of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and
XIII Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, and encouraging the
International Olympic Committee to develop a framework for reprimanding
or disqualifying host countries that are committing mass atrocities.
Whereas for 125 years, the Olympic Movement has worked to build a better and
more peaceful world by supporting young people through amateur
athletics, bringing together athletes from many countries in friendly
competition, and forging new relationships bound by friendship,
solidarity, and fair play;
Whereas the International Olympic Committee announced in July 2015 that Beijing
would be the host city of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games;
Whereas, in 2001, the International Olympic Committee and International
Paralympic Committee signed the ``One Bid, One City'' agreement, which
recognizes that every Olympic host city also has an obligation to host
the Paralympic Games using the same venues, facilities, and
infrastructure;
Whereas the terms of the ``One Bid, One City'' agreement also designate Beijing
as the host city of the XIII Paralympic Winter Games;
Whereas Article 2 of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as ``any of the
following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) killing
members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to
members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the group
conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in
whole or in part; (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births
within the group; [or] (e) forcibly transferring children of the group
to another group.'';
Whereas, in January 2021, the Department of State determined that the Chinese
Government ``has committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim
Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang'',
and Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed, stating, ``[F]orcing men,
women and children into concentration camps, trying to in effect re-
educate them to be adherents to the Chinese Communist Party--all of that
speaks to an effort to commit genocide.'';
Whereas the Chinese Communist Party has a history of repressing the people and
Government of Tibet and in 2019 initiated policies of militarized labor
training and forced transfer of Tibetan farmers to work camps, echoing
policies underway in Xinjiang;
Whereas there are alarming reports of the Chinese Communist Party suppressing
education in minority languages, such as Tibetan and Mongolian, in a
state-sponsored effort for cultural homogenization;
Whereas, in June 2020, the Chinese Communist Party enacted the Law of the
People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region, which has curtailed Hong Kong's
judicial autonomy and led to mass arrests and severe punishments on
prodemocracy activists and demonstrators;
Whereas, on October 4, 2021, the People's Liberation Army mounted the largest-
ever incursion into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone;
Whereas a ``diplomatic boycott'' of an international event involves a government
declining to send a diplomatic delegation to represent the government in
an official capacity;
Whereas a diplomatic boycott of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and XIII
Paralympic Winter Games would not prohibit or discourage Team USA
athletes and support staff from attending or participating;
Whereas, on July 8, 2021, the European Parliament passed a nonbinding resolution
calling on the European ``Commission, the Council, and the Member States
to decline invitations for government representatives and diplomats to
attend the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics unless the Chinese Government
demonstrates a verifiable improvement in the human rights situation in
Hong Kong, the Xinjiang Uyghur Region, Tibet, Inner Mongolia and
elsewhere in China'';
Whereas international law often identifies genocide, crimes against humanity,
war crimes, and ethnic cleansing as instances of mass atrocities;
Whereas people in the United States and Europe called for a boycott of the 1936
Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, out of concern for human rights
abuses;
Whereas people in the United States and Europe called for a boycott of the 2008
Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing out of concern for human
rights abuses committed by the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese
Communist Party's refusal to condemn the Sudanese Government's genocide
in Darfur;
Whereas then-President George W. Bush attended the opening ceremony of the 2008
Summer Olympics in Beijing, and the United States did not subsequently
engage in any form of boycott;
Whereas human rights abuses committed by the Chinese Communist Party have
worsened since 2008; and
Whereas a government that is hosting the Olympics and Paralympics yet also
committing mass atrocities is tarnishing the spirit of the Olympics and
Paralympics and is exploiting the Games to advance a false narrative of
peace and unity: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) urges all United States Government officials to decline
invitations to the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and XIII
Paralympic Winter Games as part of an official diplomatic
delegation unless--
(A) the International Olympic Committee and
International Paralympic Committee move the XXIV
Olympic Winter Games and XIII Paralympic Winter Games
to a city under the jurisdiction of a government that
is not committing mass atrocities; or
(B) the Department of State has certified that the
Chinese Communist Party has stopped committing acts of
genocide and that the perpetrators have accounted for
their crimes; and
(2) encourages the International Olympic Committee and
International Paralympic Committee to develop a framework for
reprimanding or disqualifying host cities and the countries in
which they are located if their governments are actively
committing mass atrocities--
(A) during the Olympic and Paralympic bidding
process; or
(B) between a city's election as a host city and
the duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games that
its government is hosting.
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